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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...on-events.html

Free concerts, fan festival among events for 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship in Houston

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Aug 17, 2023

When the College Football Playoff National Championship game comes to Houston for the first time in January 2024, fans and local residents can expect a series of ancillary events leading up to the game.

The CFP and Houston host committee unveiled a weekend full of events that will take place before college football’s premier matchup at NRG Stadium on Jan. 8, 2024. Activities include a fan festival, three-day concert series, 5K and 10K races, and an event featuring food and drinks prepared by local chefs.

The goal for the game itself is to prioritize the two fanbases of the teams that make it to the championship game, CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock said at a press conference in Houston Aug. 17. Each participating college will get 20,000 tickets that they can give out to students, alumni and fans, with the remaining tickets open to everyone. The ancillary events give visitors to Houston more ways to get involved in the event, but it also gives any local resident who may not have a ticket to the game an opportunity to engage with it.

Houstonians can also get involved with the championship game through volunteering, said Chris Massey, vice president of the Harris County Houston Sports Authority and president of the host committee. HCHSA has created about 2,000 volunteer shifts for local residents to get involved in the game and events leading up to it, and that number will continue to grow as the CFP and local host committee create more programming.

“We know that the event can be so much more to our community (than just a game),” Massey said. “Not everyone is a college football fan, and even if they are, there’s other things that enrich their lives here locally, whether that's art and entertainment or the great food culture. When we think of the event as a whole, championship weekend offers all of those things.”