NCAA Division I Football Championship

In the inaugural season of Division I-AA, the 1978 postseason included just four teams; three regional champions (East, West, and South) plus an at-large selection.[1] The field doubled to eight teams in 1981, with champions of five conferences—Big Sky, Mid-Eastern, Ohio Valley, Southwestern, and Yankee—receiving automatic bids.[2] The top four teams were seeded, and then matched against the four remaining teams based on geographical proximity.[3] The tournament was expanded to 12 teams in 1982, with each of the top four seeds receiving a first-round bye and a home game in the quarterfinals.[4] Champions of the Southern and Southland conferences also received automatic bids.[5]

The number of automatic bids has varied over time, due to changes in the number and size of conferences, with an automatic bid typically granted only to champions of conferences with at least six teams.[6] Initially, the tournament was played in December; since the expansion to twelve teams in 1982, earlier rounds have been held in late November.

The playoffs expanded to a 16-team format in 1986, requiring four postseason victories to win the title. Initially, only the top four teams were seeded,[7] with other teams geographically placed in the bracket. From 1995 through 2000, all 16 teams were seeded, independent of geography. In 2001, the number of seeded teams was reduced to four, with the seeded teams assured of home games in early tournament rounds, and other teams once again placed in the bracket to minimize travel.[8] Home team designation in games between unseeded teams is determined based on several factors, including attendance history and revenue potential.[9]

In April 2008, the NCAA announced that the playoff field would expand to 20 teams in 2010, with the Big South and Northeast Conference earning automatic bids for the first time.[10] That bracket structure included seeding of the top five teams. Twelve teams received first-round byes; the remaining eight teams played first-round games, with the four winners advancing to face the top four seeds. The playoffs expanded to 24 teams beginning in 2013, with the champion of the Pioneer Football League receiving an automatic bid for the first time.[11] The number of seeded teams was increased to eight, with the 16 unseeded teams playing in first-round games.

The field is traditionally set the Sunday before Thanksgiving and play begins that weekend.

Appalachian State's National Championship trophies for 2005 (I-AA), 2006 (FCS), and 2007 (FCS).

At-large selections and seeding within the bracket are determined by the FCS Playoff Selection Committee, which consists of one athletic director from each conference with an automatic bid.[12] As of the 2018 season, there are 10 conferences with automatic bids and the selection committee makes 14 at-large selections.[12] For the 2018 season, the committee was chaired by Dr. Brad Teague of the University of Central Arkansas.[13]

The 2015 championship game between North Dakota State and Jacksonville State at Toyota Stadium

The tournament culminates with the national championship game, played between the two remaining teams from the playoff bracket. Unlike earlier round games in each year's playoff, which are played at campus sites, the title game is played at a site predetermined by the NCAA, akin to how the NFL predetermines the site for each Super Bowl. Originally played in December, with the 2010 expansion to a 20-team field, the championship game moved to January, with two or three weeks between the semifinals and final.

The inaugural title game was played in 1978 in Wichita Falls, Texas. The 1979 and 1980 games were held in Orlando, Florida, and Sacramento, California, respectively, and the game returned Wichita Falls for 1981 and 1982. The games played in Wichita Falls were known as the Pioneer Bowl, while the game played in Sacramento was known as the Camellia Bowl—both names were used for various NCAA playoff games played in those locations, and were not specific to the I-AA championship. In 1983 and 1984, the game was played in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1985 and 1986, Tacoma, Washington, hosted the game, which the NCAA branded as the "Diamond Bowl".[14]

The 1987 and 1988 games were played in Pocatello, Idaho; and from 1989 through 1991, in Statesboro, Georgia. The 1992 through 1996 games were held in Huntington, West Virginia; and from 1997 through 2009, the title game was played in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Since 2010, the title game has been played in Frisco, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas, at Toyota Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium primarily used by FC Dallas of Major League Soccer. The stadium was known as Pizza Hut Park until the day after the championship game of the 2011 season, and then as FC Dallas Stadium until September 2013. The original contract with Frisco began in the 2010 season and ran through the 2012 season.[15] The contract has since been extended three times; first through the 2015 season,[16] then through the 2019 season,[17] and most recently through the 2024 season with an option for the 2025 season.[18]

Season(s)	Venue	Location	Tenant NCAA team	Title games by tenant
1978	Memorial Stadium	Wichita Falls, Texas	none	N/A
1979	Orlando Stadium	Orlando, Florida	UCF Knights (D-III)	N/A
1980	Hughes Stadium	Sacramento, California	none	N/A
1981–1982	Memorial Stadium	Wichita Falls, Texas	none	N/A
1983–1984	Johnson Hagood Stadium	Charleston, South Carolina	The Citadel Bulldogs	none
1985–1986	Tacoma Dome	Tacoma, Washington	none	N/A
1987	Minidome	Pocatello, Idaho	Idaho State Bengals	none
1988	Holt Arena
1989–1991	Paulson Stadium	Statesboro, Georgia	Georgia Southern Eagles	2: 1989, 1990
1992–1996	Marshall University Stadium	Huntington, West Virginia	Marshall Thundering Herd	4: 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996
1997–2009	Finley Stadium	Chattanooga, Tennessee	Chattanooga Mocs	none
2010–2011	Pizza Hut Park	Frisco, Texas	none	N/A
2012	FC Dallas Stadium
2013–present	Toyota Stadium

at the time games were played
earlier name of the same venue

There have been six instances where a team whose venue was predetermined to host the final game advanced to play for the championship on their own field. Georgia Southern won both title games they played at Paulson Stadium, while Marshall had a 2–2 record in four title games they played at Marshall University Stadium (now known as Joan C. Edwards Stadium).

Three FCS conferences usually do not participate in the tournament. The Ivy League, which has been at the FCS level since 1982 and prohibits its members from awarding athletic scholarships in any sport, plays a strict ten-game regular season and does not participate in any postseason football, citing academic concerns.[19][20] The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), two conferences consisting of historically black colleges and universities, opt to play the Celebration Bowl (which was established in 2015) instead of the FCS tournament. MEAC gave up its automatic spot in the tournament prior to the 2015 season, while SWAC (whose regular season extends through the Turkey Day Classic and Bayou Classic at the end of November and holds its own championship game in December) has not sent a team to the tournament since 1997.[21] Teams from the MEAC and SWAC may accept at-large bids, so long as they aren't committed to other postseason games that would conflict with the tournament. The most recent team from the MEAC to accept a bid were the 2016 North Carolina A&T Aggies, while the most recent SWAC team to participate in the tournament were the Jackson State Tigers in 1997.

Historically, conferences in FCS that did not offer athletic scholarships were not granted automatic bids into the tournament and, although in theory were eligible for at-large bids, never received any. The last non-scholarship conference in the subdivision, the Pioneer Football League, now receives a tournament bid, which was initiated with the 2013 postseason.

Conference	Nickname	Founded	Football members	Sports	Headquarters
Big Sky Conference	Big Sky	1963	13	16	Ogden, Utah
Big South Conference	Big South	1983	10	19	Charlotte, North Carolina
Colonial Athletic Association	CAA	1979	10	21	Richmond, Virginia
Ivy League %		1954	8	33	Princeton, New Jersey
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference	MEAC	1970	13	16	Norfolk, Virginia
Missouri Valley Football Conference	MVFC	1982	10	1	St. Louis, Missouri
Northeast Conference	NEC	1981	10	22	Somerset, New Jersey
Ohio Valley Conference	OVC	1948	12	18	Brentwood, Tennessee
Patriot League		1986	10	24	Center Valley, Pennsylvania
Pioneer Football League	PFL	1991	11	1	St. Louis, Missouri
Southern Conference	SoCon	1921	10	20	Spartanburg, South Carolina
Southland Conference		1963	11	17	Frisco, Texas
Southwestern Athletic Conference	SWAC	1920	10	18	Birmingham, Alabama

% The Ivy League abstains from the championship tournament and all postseason play.

The MEAC champion, since 2015, forgoes its automatic bid to allow its champion to participate in the Celebration Bowl. Non-champions are eligible for at-large bids (an example being the 2016 North Carolina A&T Aggies football team).

The SWAC abstains from the championship tournament to allow for a longer regular season, a conference championship game, and participation in the Celebration Bowl against the MEAC champion since 2015.