Susan Baughman: Bringing the College Football Playoff Title Game to Indianapolis

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Indianapolis has hosted eight NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Fours and is known as one of the best college sports cities in the country. On Monday, January 10, it will for the first time host the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, becoming the first cold-weather city to host the event and the first city that does not have a regular bowl game to host the CFP. Susan Baughman has extensive experience in making big events special in Indianapolis as the senior vice president of the Indiana Sports Corp for more than two decades before taking the role as president for the CFP’s local host committee in Indianapolis. SportsTravel Senior Editor Matt Traub talked with Baughman about planning for the CFP title game, what goes into the local leadup for such an event, how the CFP differs from the NCAA’s Final Four and much more.

Among the topics featured in this episode:

• What players, teams and spectators can expect from Indianapolis (1:52)
• How hosting the CFP title game differs from hosting the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament or Super Bowl (2:39)
• If hosting the NCAA bubble in Indianapolis in the spring had any effect on preparations for the CFP (3:53)
• Working through various COVID-19 protocols and coming up with multiple plans of operation (5:30)
• Whether the recent Big Ten championship game served as a test run for some of the organization ahead of CFP (6:58)
• Recruiting volunteers for the College Football Playoff and planning the event during the pandemic (7:35)
• Financial implications of a Big Ten team making the title game compared to teams that would travel farther (8:28)
• Coming up with new local activations for the game and drawing inspiration from previous CFP hosts (9:40)
• Being the first city to host the CFP title game that doesn’t host a regular postseason bowl game (12:45)
• What the process of hosting a CFP is like and working with the organization’s national office (13:38)
• How success will be measured when the event is over (15:11)

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