{"id":124544,"date":"2026-01-20T05:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T05:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/124544\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T05:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T05:21:09","slug":"indiana-miami-fans-pack-tampa-bay-watch-parties-for-national-championship-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/124544\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana, Miami fans pack Tampa Bay watch parties for national championship game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"National National Championship watch parties<\/a> <\/p>\n

With tickets being so expensive for the National College Football championships, many fans chose to join watch parties instead of cheering on their team in person. FOX 13\u2019s Blake DeVine reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. – The Indiana Hoosiers are champions for the first time in program history, defeating Miami 27-21 in the 2026 College Football <\/a>Playoff National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium.<\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

Monday night, fans from both schools packed sports bars across Tampa Bay to watch this exciting showdown.<\/p>\n

At Riveters Tampa<\/a>, hundreds of Hoosiers fans went wild, celebrating this historic title. Indiana fan Rob Sutherlan described the moment as something he never expected to witness.<\/p>\n

“Indiana fans are rabid and for us to see this in college football, it\u2019s unbelievable,” he said.<\/p>\n

READ: Tampa diehard ‘Cane Freak’ is 2025 University of Miami Fan of the Year<\/a><\/p>\n

Indiana fan Jenny Kassay said traveling down to Miami was out of reach due to the hefty cost.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

By the numbers:<\/p>\n

Tickets at Hard Rock Stadium averaged around $3,800 for upper-level seats, making it the most expensive national championship ticket in college football history.<\/p>\n

“I went to the Rose Bowl, I went the Peach Bowl, but these tickets were just too much this time around,” Kassay said.<\/p>\n

For Matt Lettelleir, a diehard Hoosier fan from St. Petersburg<\/a>, the steep price tag was still worth it to witness history.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“This is one of those opportunities that\u2019s a once-in-a-lifetime event,” he said. “My Dad always said afford what you want, not what you can afford.”<\/p>\n

The large crowds also brought a big boost to local businesses hosting watch parties. Riveters Tampa owner Andres Farfan even created a specialized menu item \u2014 Hoosier breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches \u2014 for this Indiana watch party.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

“This is huge for us. Small business owners, thrive for these days,” he said. “So, this is actually very good for us.”<\/p>\n

Over at Duffy\u2019s Sports Grill, Miami fans filled the bar to capacity. While the Hurricanes ultimately fell short, the energy inside remained sky high all night.<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS: Duffy\u2019s gearing up for the CFP National Championship watch party<\/a><\/p>\n

Headed into the game, Miami fan Kenneth Williams said confidence was key.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s our time now and we are going to do our thing,” he said. “We are shining because the U is back.”<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Fellow \u2019Canes supporter, Jodi Cohen, says the back-and-forth nature of the game kept emotions running high.<\/p>\n

“Tonight, and the last couple of games have been explosive,” she said. “It\u2019s been incredible to watch all this energy.”<\/p>\n

Local perspective:<\/p>\n

This offered a glimpse of what the Tampa Bay region could experience on a much larger scale in a few years. Tampa is scheduled to host the College Football Playoff National Championship at Raymond James Stadium in 2029.<\/p>\n

The Source: Information for this story came from statements from interviews with Indiana fans, interviews with Miami fans and reporting from previous coverage on FOX 13 News.<\/p>\n

Tampa<\/a>College Football<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"National Championship watch parties With tickets being so expensive for the National College Football championships, many fans chose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,629,1538,115,135,137,136,628],"class_list":["post-124544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-fl","tag-hillsborough","tag-ncaa-football","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}