How Many Teams Have Won Neutral Site Title at Home?

The Miami Hurricanes have a rare chance to win a championship at their home stadium.

Can the Miami Hurricanes win the national championship on their home turf? | Lauren Witte/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On Monday, the Miami Hurricanes have the opportunity to enter rare air when they take on Indiana in the College Football Playoff national championship game. With the national championship game taking place at their home playing field, Hard Rock Stadium, the Hurricanes will have the chance to win a neutral-site title game at home, a feat that seldom takes place in sports.

The Hurricanes have previously won five national championships in 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991 and 2001, with their most recent win taking place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Indiana fans have traveled well throughout the CFP so far, but it will be special for Miami if they can win the championship on their home turf.

Before the CFP national championship kicks off on Monday, here’s a look at teams that have won (or come close) to winning a championship at home.

NFL

Four years ago, the Rams won the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Over the last five years the NFL has seen two teams win the Super Bowl in their home stadium. In 2021, the Buccaneers defeated the Chiefs 31-9 at Raymond James Stadium. The ensuing year, the Rams took down the Bengals 23-20 at SoFi Stadium, five years after the team moved back to Los Angeles.

Prior to those two games, the closest an NFL team came to winning the Super Bowl at their home stadium was the 1984 49ers, who won Super Bowl XIX over the Dolphins at nearby Stanford Stadium.

Soccer

Multiple nations have won the World Cup while hosting the sport’s most important tournament. The first two World Cups were both won by the host nations, as Uruguay won while hosting the event in 1930, followed by Italy in 1934.

Here’s a list of every host nation to win the World Cup:

• 1930: Uruguay
• 1934: Italy
• 1966: England
• 1974: West Germany
• 1978: Argentina
• 1998: France
• 1999: USA (women’s)

Outside of the World Cup, the North Carolina Courage won the NWSL championship when the title game was held at their home stadium in 2019.

College Football

No college football team has won the championship game at its home stadium, but a few have gotten to take home the title in their home state. The 2003 and 2007 LSU squads won the BCS championship game at the Superdome in New Orleans. In 2008, Florida beat Oklahoma in the BCS championship in Miami.

College Basketball

In 1950, the City College of New York won the NCAA championship at Madison Square Garden after playing many of their regular-season games at the same arena, though that championship was later marred by a point shaving scandal. Five years prior, NYU played in the NCAA title game at Madison Square Garden but fell to Oklahoma A&M 49-45.

Outside of the CCNY, no college basketball team has won the NCAA championship game at their home arena, but a number of teams have won the game while playing close to home.

Kansas has played in an NCAA title game that took place in Kansas City, Mo. on four of its 10 trips to the championship game. They lost those games in 1940, 1953 and 1957 but finally won while playing near home in 1988.

Under the great John Wooden, UCLA won two of its seven consecutive NCAA championships in Los Angeles at the Sports Arena, defeating North Carolina there in 1968 and beating Florida State at that arena in 1972.

Two years later, N.C. State won the title close to home when they took down Marquette 76-64 at the Greensboro Coliseum.

In women’s college hoops, UCLA defeated Maryland in Los Angeles in the 1978 AIAW tournament, which preceded the NCAA championship. The USC women also won a national championship in Los Angeles, doing so at UCLA’s home arena of Pauley Pavilion in 1984.

---