Circa CEO Stevens Says Las Vegas Should Host First Week of CFP

August 25, 2024

Derek Stevens, the CEO and creator of Circa, thinks that Las Vegas ought to host the College Football Playoffs' (CFP) opening round, among four other cities.

The 12-team playoff bracket structure has been enlarged for the first time this year. The teams ranked one through four receive byes into the quarterfinals under the new format. The NCAA states that the four games involving the remaining eight teams will "take place during the week of Saturday, Dec. 21 at either the home field of the higher-seeded team or another site designated by the higher-seeded program."

Stevens warned fans not to become too attached to the concept of playoff games on college campuses in an interview that aired last week on the Vegas Sports Information Network (VSiN). He pointed out that the plan might come with "pretty tough economics" and that bad weather could be a major concern.

"Everybody loves the thought ‘OK, Notre Dame is going to play at home the week before Christmas,’” said Stevens. “Maybe Ohio State or Michigan is at home. But you’ve got issues with stadiums, with turf, with student bodies.”

Stevens, a lifelong supporter of the University of Michigan and a native of Michigan, utilized that institution as an example when he mentioned how challenging it would be to fill "the Big House" a few days before Christmas because students would be on break.

According to Stevens, Las Vegas is a Reputable Alternative

Stevens owns a share in Circa in addition to the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate. Downtown Las Vegas is home to all three of the gambling hotels.

He may be accused of "talking his book" by those who disagree with his proposal to relocate the CFP's opening week from college campuses to Las Vegas. He does, however, think that Las Vegas ought to be one of the four sites that host the CFP games in the first round, so there may be some truth to his remarks.

In the VSiN interview, Stevens stated that the four first-round CFP games should be held at Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders, SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Since Allegiant Stadium hosts the Las Vegas Bowl and is home to UNLV, it has experience hosting college football games.

Stevens made a suggestion that there might be reasons for trying to move the CFP first-round games to the four previously indicated locations at some point.

CFP Game May Benefit Las Vegas' Economy

The Super Bowl, which was held in February in Las Vegas, is expected to have brought in more than $1 billion for the city's economy, including more than $230 million in worker pay and compensation.

Similar to an NFL wild-card playoff game, a first-round CFP game would probably not bring in a lot of money for the city, but it would still be beneficial because it would allow casino operators to increase hotel rates for that weekend and the additional number of fans would probably support higher gaming and food and beverage spending.

The NCAA hasn't made the suggestion to hold the first four CFP games in neutral locations public as of yet.