Venue
1500 Sugar Bowl Drive, New Orleans, LA 70112, United States
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Sugar Bowl, New Orleans guide
Playoff football under the Superdome roof.
In short
College football fans can plan on the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, listed for 15 January 2027 as a College Football Playoff game; its date depends on the playoff rotation. Played indoors at the Caesars Superdome, it brings a week of city traditions including a parade past Jackson Square. Confirm the date before booking.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has been played in New Orleans every winter since 1935, which makes it one of college football's oldest postseason games. It now sits inside the College Football Playoff, so the result matters well beyond the night itself: the winner moves on in the race for the national championship.
Two things set it apart. The game is played under a roof, in the Caesars Superdome, so January weather never decides it. And the bowl brings a week of New Orleans ritual with it, from a New Year's parade past Jackson Square to school bands playing outside the dome before kickoff. For a city that loves a procession, the game is as much a civic occasion as a sporting one.
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Key Facts & Stats:
Where: New Orleans, United States
Venue: Caesars Superdome
Held: Every year
Type of event: Sporting Events, Live Events
Currency: US dollar (USD, $)
Time zone: Central Time (UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer)
Language: English (Spanish widely spoken)
Map
Close to the venue
- The National WWII Museum Attraction · 1.3 km
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
Mobile tickets only
Every Sugar Bowl ticket is mobile. There is no print-at-home option and no will call window, and a screenshot will be turned away at the gate. Load your tickets into the Sugar Bowl app or your phone's digital wallet before you leave the hotel, and leave with a full battery.
In a group, transfer each seat to the person who will use it, so nobody has to wait at the gate for the friend holding every ticket. Babies and toddlers are not exempt: each person who walks in needs a ticket of their own.
The clear bag policy at the Superdome
At football games the Superdome follows the NFL clear-bag rule, and each game's event page confirms whether it applies. Expect to be allowed one clear plastic, vinyl or PVC bag no larger than 12 x 6 x 12 inches, or a one-gallon clear plastic bag, plus a small clutch up to 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Diaper bags must also be clear and within the same size. Backpacks and fanny packs are refused, even transparent ones.
Leave outside food and drink at the hotel, along with selfie sticks, drones and video or audio recording gear. Medically necessary items are allowed after inspection and tagging, so give yourself extra time at the gate if you carry them.
Sugar Bowl Fest tickets and rules
Sugar Bowl Fest, the parade after-party at the Audubon Aquarium plaza by the river, is family-friendly but ticketed, and capacity is limited. Coolers, luggage and briefcases are banned and every bag is screened. Food, drink and official merchandise are sold inside, so there is no need to carry a picnic.
Expect slow traffic near the plaza while the parade is on. Come on foot if your hotel allows it. Drivers will find several paid public lots a short walk from the entrance, with rates that vary from lot to lot.
What happens on the day
- Late December
The matchup is set
The two teams are known only after the quarterfinals.
- Game day, 15:00
Tailgate Town opens
For the January 2026 quarterfinal, Champions Square opened at 3 p.m.; ticket holders only.
- Afternoon
Bands and cheer squads
The two schools took turns on stage until 6 p.m. in 2026.
- Before kickoff
Through the gates
Outside food cannot come into the stadium, so eat at the tailgate or before it.
- Evening
Kickoff
7 p.m. in January 2026. Check the bowl's website for the 2027 time.
Booking accommodation before the teams are known
The awkward part of planning for a playoff bowl is that nobody knows the teams until late December. The 12-team bracket opens with campus games on 18 and 19 December, the top four seeds sit out that round, and only after the quarterfinals do two schools learn they are heading to Louisiana. Neutral fans and locals can buy early. Supporters of a contender end up booking flights and rooms in a rush, so it pays to have a refundable hotel reservation in hand before the bracket settles.
Arrive at least a day early. The Sugar Bowl is really a run of events: a riverside parade, a ticketed after-party by the Mississippi and an official pregame party at Champions Square. Everything worth doing that week lies within walking or streetcar range of the Superdome.
How a 1927 newspaper campaign created the Sugar Bowl
The game began as a newspaper campaign. In 1927 Colonel James M. Thomson, publisher of the New Orleans Item, and his sports editor Fred Digby proposed a New Year's Day football game, and Digby supplied the name. It took until 1 January 1935 for the first kickoff, staged by the New Orleans Mid-Winter Sports Association under its first president, Warren V. Miller.
For four decades the bowl lived at Tulane Stadium, on Tulane land that had once been a plantation. It was there, the story goes, that cane syrup was first turned into granulated sugar. The move indoors to the new Superdome came in 1975. Before then, in 1956, the bowl had crossed a line in Southern sport. Bobby Grier became the first Black player to appear in a Sugar Bowl, and Georgia Tech kept its contract and played even though the governor of Georgia had urged the school to withdraw. Georgia Tech won 7-0.
The dome carries its own history. During Hurricane Katrina it served as a shelter of last resort, and while it was repaired the 2006 game went to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, where West Virginia beat Georgia 38-35. A $450 million renovation was completed in phases for Super Bowl LIX in 2025. Since 2007 the bowl's archive has been held by The Historic New Orleans Collection, the place to read the full story.
Getting there
Flying in
Louis Armstrong International (MSY) is in Kenner, west of the city off I-10. The RTA 202 Airport Express takes about 30 minutes to the CBD; taxis charge a fixed price to the Quarter or CBD.
By train
Amtrak arrives at Union Passenger Terminal, 1001 Loyola Avenue. The Rampart-Loyola streetcar (route 46) stops at Poydras Street by the dome.
By streetcar
From the French Quarter ride the Canal Street or Riverfront lines; from Uptown, the St. Charles line. A Jazzy pass gives 24 hours of unlimited rides.
Driving
Game-day parking in the Superdome garages costs $60. The stadium address is 1500 Sugar Bowl Drive.
Where to stay during the festival
The Central Business District's high-rise hotels are a short walk from the dome. The French Quarter suits anyone who wants late bars on the doorstep, and Frenchmen Street in the Marigny is the place for the nights either side.
Supporters of a contender should hold a refundable reservation before the bracket settles. You will not need a car.
Weather and what to pack
Mid-January in New Orleans is mild and damp. The airport averages a January high of 62.5°F (16.9°C) and a low of 46.1°F (7.8°C), with about 132 mm of rain over nine or ten days (1991-2020 normals).
The game is indoors; bring a layer for the walk back after dark.
Worth packing
- A light jacket for evenings
- Team colours
- A clear bag, if the stadium's bag policy requires one
- A Jazzy pass on your phone
Car hire in New Orleans
Airport transfer to Sugar Bowl, New Orleans
Met at arrivals and driven door to door to Caesars Superdome.
Restaurants and food in United States
Places to eat in United States before or after the celebrations.
Joe's Stone Crab
11 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139, United States
Cuisine:SeafoodAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
- Bar
Alinea
1723 North Halsted Street, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
Cuisine:ModernistAmerican
- Dine-in
- Counter seating
Franklin Barbecue
900 East 11th Street, Austin, TX 78702, United States
Cuisine:Texas barbecueAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
Commander's Palace
1403 Washington Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70130, United States
Cuisine:CreoleNew Orleans
- Dine-in
Katz's Delicatessen
205 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10002, United States
Cuisine:Jewish deliAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
- Counter seating
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General
The two teams come out of the College Football Playoff bracket, so the matchup is known only once the quarterfinals are over. Fans of a contender should watch the bracket through late December before committing to flights.
Not any more. The Southeastern Conference had a formal link with the bowl from 1976 to 2026 and the Big 12 joined the arrangement in 2015. Both tie-ins end with the 2027 edition, leaving the playoff bracket alone to decide who comes to New Orleans.
The record is 85,161, set at the 1973 game between Notre Dame and Alabama. That crowd packed Tulane Stadium, the open-air ground used before the Superdome, and the dome's smaller capacity means the mark is unlikely to fall.
No refund or exchange is offered. The ticket stays valid for the semifinal in New Orleans, and you can resell it through Ticketmaster, which the bowl names as its official secondary market.
It sets off from Elysian Fields Avenue and Decatur Street, then follows Decatur along the river past the Old US Mint, the French Market, Cafe du Monde and Jackson Square, finishing at Canal Street. Organisers confirm the final route and times each December.
It is the trophy for the game's most outstanding player, decided by a vote of sports journalists. The name honours Warren V. Miller, first president of the association behind the bowl, and Fred Digby, the sports editor who named it.
The quarterfinal between Notre Dame and Georgia was pushed back a day for security reasons. Notre Dame won the rescheduled game.
Booking
The Caesars Superdome seats 73,208 for football and can expand to 76,468. About 4,300 seats were taken out in 2021 to widen the concourses and add lifts and concession stands.
Through Ticketmaster, linked from the official Sugar Bowl website, or directly from the Sugar Bowl Ticket Office. Wheelchair-accessible seating can be chosen at the time of purchase on Ticketmaster.
A non-refundable deposit of $50 per seat puts you on the annual list, and the deposit is credited toward the price later. Seats are picked each summer after existing holders renew, so you are guaranteed a place whatever the matchup turns out to be.
Yes. Tailgate Town, the official pregame party at Champions Square beside the dome, admits only fans holding a ticket for the game. Inside are food stands, games and sets from both schools' bands and cheer squads.
Timing & weather
For the 2027 season it returns to New Year's Eve as a quarterfinal on Friday 31 December 2027. The Fiesta, Peach and Rose Bowls host the other three quarterfinals on 1 January 2028.