6 Classic College Football Towns to Visit

Each autumn, in college towns across the United States, the fervor for football can almost feel religious as students, alumni, families and other fans fill stadiums, rooting for their teams to reach a bowl game and, just maybe, the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

But it’s not just locals with their faces painted in school colors.

College football is transforming college towns into destinations in their own right, as travelers build trips around dropping in to catch a game. United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines have added flights specifically for game-day weekends, while demand for local hotels and short-term rentals surges. Last summer, roughly 25,000 U.S. fans even made their way to the Aviva Stadium in Dublin to attend the Aer Lingus College Football Classic and watch the sold-out game between Georgia Tech and Florida State University.

John Anthony, an executive vice president at On Location, which provides premium hospitality packages for major sporting events and is an official partner of the N.C.A.A., said the company had seen 45 percent growth for regular season games this year, calling it “a pretty amazing bump.” He added, “There’s just a greater interest in people overall going to these things.”

Mark Melhorn, a 53-year-old media relations professional from Somers Point, N.J., has made an effort to attend as many college football games as he can this year. (He’s been to at least eight so far and plans on more.)

“I love the energy of just being on a college campus,” said Mr. Melhorn, a fan of Northwestern, his alma mater, citing the atmosphere around tailgating and at local sports bars, the high-energy camaraderie, and love for the sport.

Scoring game tickets at reasonable prices isn’t usually too hard, unless a big rival is in town — you can generally buy them directly through the university’s athletic website or online ticket sellers like SeatGeek or StubHub.