SANTA CLARA — In the Bay Area, a pro-sports market by an overwhelming margin, college football doesn’t take a back seat. It takes a nosebleed seat.
And yet, college football’s marquee event — the national championship game — will be played here Monday night, making the Bay Area the first West Coast site for one of the crown jewels of American sports.
What in the name of Pop Warner was the College Football Playoff committee thinking?
It turns out long-established relationships, the 49ers’ move to Santa Clara and San Jose’s improving downtown corridor trumped the Bay Area’s moderate interest in the college football teams at Cal, Stanford and San Jose State.