It starts in 2014 but the National Championship will go to the highest bidder every year (like the Super Bowl)... there are 6 different sites that will go in rotation on the Playoffs. Sugar, Rose, and Orange Bowl are the ones that are locked in. I believe the Fiesta, Cotton, & Chick Fil A were the other three expected to get the other spots.
So lets say the Sugar Bowl wins the rights to the National Championship in 2014, and the rotation starts with the Orange Bowl and Rose Bowl as the Semifinals. The Fiest, Cotton, & Chick Fil A Bowls will host the other BCS Bowl games. Thats how I was under the impression it will go.
Close.
The final decisions aren't going to be made until April. The Chick-Fil-A and Cotton are still in the mix for one of the access bowls. The three locked in for contract bowls are Champions/Sugar, Orange, and Rose.
What we do know:
Rose gets B1G and PAC12
Sugar/Champions gets SEC and Big12
Orange gets ACC and Notre Dame/Big Ten/SEC.
Money figures are roughly 475MM for playoff, 220MM of the top for those three contract bowls with 80MM going to the Rose and Sugar/Champions and Orange getting 60MM.
Which cities get the access bowls isn't a given, though strong indications are it's going to be the Fiesta, Cotton, and Chick-Fil-A. It has been determined that those six bowls can host a NC game.
The committee is being headquartered in Dallas/Ft. Worth area and I suspect we'll see that come into play when selecting the NC site. IE: I'd be shocked if Dallas/Ft. Worth is chosen after the Fiesta or Chick-Fil-A.
There was a push by conferences not considered part of "the five" to have a seventh access bowl. Considering the payout (rumored to be around 25MM) and some other factors I don't see a seventh access bowl being added.
Rev, the last time I looked at this was around the same time we talked on the phone about where teams looked to end up in bowl games. When was that, just after Thanksgiving I think? So, in the last month a few things might have changed and I've missed them.
FWIW, I heard last night that the Birmingham bowl had sold around 55K tickets for the Ole Miss game. It might resemble a home game in Oxford by the sound of things.