Non-sports fans who like music: the college football national championship just gave you a reason to care by announcing that Usher, Flo Rida, Cold War Kids, and Eric Paslay will perform three days of free concerts set to take place at downtown Tampa’s Curtis Hixon Park (organizers are calling the concerts "AT&T Playoff Playlist Live").
Additional performers include Gavin Degraw, Nashville songwriter Clare Dunn, soul/pop trio The Shadowboxers, and UK crooner Jamie N Commons. Comedian Jay Pharoah will host on Sunday.
The College Football Playoff and Tampa Bay Sports Commission announced the news today during a rooftop press conference at Amalie Arena in Tampa.
"There is one thing about this city, one we believe in each other and two we know how to do these events. We're going to put on the show of all shows." Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn (a Penn State fan) said.
"When people tune in, they are going to see an amazing city that is prepared to host one of America's favorite events," he added, "we love telling Tampa's story to the world."
The championship football game will take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Monday, January 9, but concerts will take place in the days leading up to the match. Eric Paslay will headline on Friday with Flo Rida and Usher taking the stage on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Officials say Curtis Hixon Park will be configured to hold about 20,000 people. ESPN will also broadcast SportsCenter live from the park.
Usher was most recently announced as a headliner for Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival, and while the Roots just announced a year end show in Orlando we're still unsure if they'll also be on the bill. The site for the concerts makes sense, too.
This spring, officials stopped by Gasparilla Music Festival for some research & development.
"They were looking at different sites, and we were glad to have them check out Curtis Hixon Park," Gasparilla Music Festival executive director David Cox told CL, "if you're going to have a concert like that in Tampa, then we obviously believe it should be there."
Last year’s national championship festivities in Arizona featured The Band Perry, Ciara, John Mellencamp, David Nail, Walk the Moon, X Ambassadors, American Authors and Moon Taxi.
More information is available here. We're gonna dial it back with this video of Usher's "U Got It Bad" now.
This is an evolving post.
Friday – January 6
Clare Dunn
The Shadowboxers
Eric Paslay
Saturday – January 7
Cold War Kids
Flo Rida
Sunday – January 8
Jamie n Commons
Gavin Degraw
Usher
This article appears in Nov 10-17, 2016.