BCS announces future playoff dates

In college football's new postseason plan, set to begin at the end of the 2014 season, New Year's Eve often will take on more importance than New Year's Day.

When the four-team playoff system begins, the national semifinal games will be played on Dec. 31 two of every three years, Bowl Championship Series officials announced Tuesday. In the other years, the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl will play host to national semifinals on New Year's Day.

The Pasadena, Calif., and New Orleans games are contractually bound to be played on New Year's Day -- or the next day in years when Jan. 1 is a Sunday.

In the first year of the new system, the national semifinals will be played Jan. 1, 2015, at the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The national title game is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2015, at a site to be determined, though Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, is widely believed to be the leading contender.

The Rose and Sugar bowls subsequently will play host to the national semifinals in 2018, 2021 and 2024.

In the other years through 2026, the semis will be held Dec. 31. According to multiple media reports, the sites likely will include some combination of Miami Gardens, Fla., home of the Orange Bowl; Glendale, Ariz., home of the Fiesta Bowl; Atlanta, home of the Chick-fil-A Bowl; and Arlington, home of the Cotton Bowl.

The national title game will be held on the second Monday of January except in 2019, when it will be played Jan. 7.