Graney: Saccenti needs to have major role in CFP title game

John Saccenti will attend his 21st college football national championship this year.

He just concluded working his 24th Las Vegas Bowl, the last 12 as executive director.

He just finished his time as chairman for postseason college football and has been part of that executive committee for five years.

He ran the state’s largest college football game in history with the 2024 kickoff classic between USC and LSU, setting an attendance record at Allegiant Stadium.

He knows more about how big-time college football events work than anyone in Nevada and most across the country.

Which means he needs to be heavily involved when it comes to hosting the 2027 College Football Playoff national championship here.

Saccenti’s name wasn’t included on the list of host committee members released last month. It was comprised of others — of business leaders and those from entertainment and gaming and government and sports and tourism.

The co-chairs are Raiders president Sandra Douglass Morgan and Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson.

Should be terrific

Look. There is every chance the game will be a terrific success. That’s what we do best here. Host big events. Glance no further than how well the Super Bowl went. It’s a major reason Las Vegas is about to be included in the regular rotation for the game of Roman numerals.

We killed it. One of the best Super Bowl experiences in the game’s history.

But there isn’t a person on that CFP host committee who knows more about the inner-workings of college football than Saccenti.

Not anyone close.

He needs to play a major role in this.

Not having him do so would be like saying Marc Badain didn’t have everything to do with the raising of Allegiant Stadium. Which, of course, he did.

“I’m a little surprised not being on (the host committee),” Saccenti said. “I don’t know what the criteria was or how it was selected. It caught me off guard a little. But I’m sure there are reasons for that group to be selected.”

Steve Hill is president and CEO of the LVCVA, which largely asked folks internally to serve on the host committee. It was, Hill said, driven by where activities will take place around the CFP championship. A number of names also served on the Super Bowl host committee.

Individual committees will be formed early in 2026 on specific topics, following the same format as the Super Bowl.

“John will be involved for sure,” Hill said. “The CFP gives us some listings and numbers of positions they want to see on the host committee. In terms of the committee that will be the footprint of the game. John will certainly be on that.

“The folks doing the work are really on the functioning committees and there will be 10-12 of those. Where it makes sense to have John involved, he will be.”

He needs to be.

Utah rolls

Hill believes the CFP can be as successful as the Super Bowl while recognizing there are differences between hosting each. He admits some of the reasons the Super Bowl went so well – there was great weather all week – wasn’t controlled by any committee.

“The CFP is the pinnacle of college football,” Hill said. “We talk about being the Sports Capital of the World. In the United States, you can’t do that without being involved with college football and professional football. It’s the biggest sport in the country.”

Yet another Las Vegas Bowl came to life Wednesday, when Utah as more than a two-touchdown favorite beat Nebraska 44-22 before 38,879.

You couldn’t attend an event this week without coaches praising Saccenti and his team for the experience. Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said it was the best run bowl game he has ever attended. It’s an annual conclusion of those participating.

“I have a pretty good handle on running big-time college events here in Las Vegas,” Saccenti said. “We proved that again this week. Our group has helped college football throughout this city build trust in big-time events here.

“So now we get the national championship. I don’t think anyone would have thought that possible 25 years ago, when the NCAA didn’t even want a bowl game here. We’ve come so far and I’m so proud of our group for what we’ve done to get us to this point.”

He needs to have a major role in 2027.

Could it be more obvious?

Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.