| Awarded for | Winner of the College Football Playoff National Championship |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | College Football Playoff |
| History | |
| First award | 2014 |
| Most recent | Michigan |
| Website | collegefootballplayoff |
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The College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy is the trophy awarded to the winner of the College Football Playoff (CFP), the postseason tournament in American college football that determines a national champion for the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). It is currently held by the Michigan Wolverines, who won the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship to cap the 2023 season. The 26.5-inch-tall (67 cm), 50-pound (23 kg) trophy is oblong-shaped like a football at the base, tapering up to a flattened full-size football at the top.[1] It is made of 24-karat gold, bronze and stainless steel, with the bulk of the trophy gold-colored and the football at the top a gray metallic color. The football's four laces represent the four playoff teams.[2]
The trophy is separate from its 12-inch-tall bronze base, so it can be hoisted. The base is finished in black patina and weighs 30 pounds (13.61 kg).[3] Dr Pepper sponsors the trophy. Dr. Pepper originally came to an agreement with ESPN in 2014 to pay $35 million per year for sponsorship rights through the 2020 season;[4] the two companies agreed to a contract extension in 2018 (the financial details of which have not been disclosed), allowing Dr. Pepper to retain sponsorship rights through the 2026 College Football Playoffs. The trophy was unveiled on July 14, 2014.[1]
The trophy was designed by design firm Pentagram and crafted by the Polich Tallix fine art foundry of Rock Tavern, New York.
College Football Playoff officials commissioned the trophy for the new playoff system, preferring a new award that was unconnected with the previous Bowl Championship Series (BCS) postseason system which was sometimes controversial. Winners of the BCS National Championship Game were awarded the AFCA "crystal football" trophy through the 2013 season.[5]
- ^ a b Eric Prisbell, College Football Playoff national championship trophy unveiled, USA Today, July 14, 2014
- ^ Associated Press (July 15, 2014). "College Football Playoff's trophy is golden". Concord Monitor. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- ^ "College Football Playoff Unveils National Championship Trophy". College Football Playoff. July 14, 2014. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- ^ Anthony Crupi (March 25, 2014). "ESPN Inks Dr Pepper as First Mega-Sponsor of the College Football Playoff Series". Adweek. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- ^ Dennis Dodd (July 23, 2013). "New College Football Playoff will reportedly feature a new trophy". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 6 December 2014.