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NEW ORLEANS (April 22, 2025) – The Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic will once again double as a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal Game on New Year's Day in the Superdome. The game is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. Central – one hour earlier than it has kicked off in recent years. The upcoming Sugar Bowl will be the 92nd annual game and the sixth that has doubled as a College Football Playoff (CFP) Game. 
 
Fans looking to attend the Allstate Sugar Bowl can do so by becoming an Annual Ticket Holder. Additional ticket information for the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl will be released as soon as it becomes available.
 
"We're pleased about the earlier kickoff time for the next Allstate Sugar Bowl," said Jeff Hundley, the chief executive officer of the Allstate Sugar Bowl. "This will be great for fans around the country. Those attending the game will have more time to celebrate afterward, and fans watching at home will be more likely to stay with us to the very end.  We appreciate ESPN's efforts in making this happen."
   
For the 2025 season, the field of 12 teams will be comprised of the five conference champions ranked highest by the selection committee (no minimum ranking requirement), plus the seven highest-ranked other teams. There will be four First-Round Games played at home campus sites. The CFP Quarterfinals and Semifinals will be played at bowl sites.
 
The 2025-26 Playoff schedule includes a New Year's Day tripleheader of Quarterfinal games on ESPN with new kickoff times: the Capital One Orange Bowl (11 a.m. CT), the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential (3 p.m.) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl (7 p.m.) will all start earlier than their traditional windows. The other Quarterfinal game will be at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and will kickoff at 6:30 p.m. CT on Dec. 31. The Semifinals will be played at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 8, 6:30 p.m.) and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Jan. 9, 6:30 p.m.).
 
"This New Year's Day schedule adjustment is the result of a thoughtful collaboration between the CFP, ESPN, the Capital One Orange Bowl, the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential, and the Allstate Sugar Bowl," said Rich Clark, executive director of the College Football Playoff. "All three bowls shifting their start times allows us to place each game in an ideal window on New Year's Day and provide the optimal viewing experience. New Year's Day and college football are synonymous with each other, and these changes only strengthen that relationship."
 
This past year's Sugar Bowl saw Notre Dame upend Georgia, 23-10, in a Playoff Quarterfinal. It was the 12th straight victory for the Fighting Irish, who then defeated Penn State in a Playoff Semifinal before falling to Ohio State in the CFP National Championship.
 
In the first season (2014) of the College Football Playoff format, the Allstate Sugar Bowl hosted one of the first Playoff Semifinals as fourth-seeded Ohio State upended No. 1 Alabama, 42-35. In addition to being a sold-out spectacle at the Superdome, the game was watched by 28,271,000 viewers on television (and online) making it the most viewed cable broadcast of all-time.
 
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 29 national champions, 110 Hall of Fame players, 55 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 91-year history. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.5 billion into the local economy in the last decade.