ESPN
The Orange Bowl in Miami was probably not the ideal city to host a college football playoff game between Oregon and Texas Tech.
On New Year’s Day, Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium hosted a quarterfinal college football playoff game between the Oregon Ducks and Texas Tech Raiders.
Days before the game, fans noticed that ticket prices were insanely cheap for a game of this magnitude.
Folks if you’re free at Noon on Thursday or always wanted to check out Hard Rock or an Orange Bowl
$29 with fees pic.twitter.com/yf38Sz8MvA
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) December 31, 2025
On gameday, media members were shocked by the low crowd turnout was at Hard Rock Stadium.
Happy New Years to everyone except the people on the Orange Bowl Committee in Orange blazers!
Also, this is the crowd 15 minutes before kickoff… pic.twitter.com/l7PxThRGbw
— Jordan Silversmith (@jsilversmith24) January 1, 2026
Not a great turnout here at the Orange Bowl. Good seats available for cheap. pic.twitter.com/WhjjXZgaOU
— Aaron J. Fentress (@AaronJFentress) January 1, 2026
Fans are beginning to notice that filling up stadiums in neutral cities during the quarterfinals of the college football playoffs is becoming an issue.
“There are at least 15k empty seats at a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal. The results are speaking – LOUDLY. These games need to not be neutral sites, especially way across the country. It was the same story last night at the Cotton Bowl. Even the Rose Bowl is <$100” said a fan on X.
It’ll be interesting to see if the CFP committee addresses the crowd situation for early round playoff games in the future.
This shot right here is why every playoff game should be at the campus. Lot of empty seats. Atmosphere not electric @CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/iFrtlB2vpO
— ItsAverageJo3 (@ItsAverageJo3) January 1, 2026