CFP Title Game and Inauguration Falling on Same Day for First Time

ATLANTA — Ohio State fan JD Vance wanted to attend the College Football Playoff national championship game in Atlanta to watch the Buckeyes take on Notre Dame. But he has something else on his schedule for Monday. 

“Hopefully,” Vance, the vice president-elect, wrote on X after the Buckeyes punched their ticket on Jan. 10, “everyone is cool with me skipping the inauguration so I can go to the national title game.” 

For the first time in CFP history, the title game will take place on the same day as Inauguration Day, thanks to the new 12-team schedule. President-Elect Donald Trump’s swearing-in is slated for around noon ET indoors, at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. Then, the CFP title game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET several hundred miles south in Atlanta. 

CFP executive director Rich Clark—himself deeply familiar with federal government operations as an Air Force lieutenant general—said having the inauguration and the CFP on the same day is a “good thing.” 

“It’s a big day for the country,” he told reporters Saturday. “And then, everybody can take a breather and watch a great football game at night—a whole different part of our American fabric. … And it’s MLK Day, which is also a significant day for all of us.” 

Earlier in the season, the first 12-team CFP rankings reveal coincided with Election Day. ESPN revealed the rankings just before the first big wave of polls closed on Nov. 5, ensuring viewers that they would be able to focus on the game and the poll results without much overlap. 

ESPN, however, has dealt with navigating CFP bracket reveals during elections before. The national championship, however, will have the inauguration as a pregame for the first time.