TAMPA, Fla. — The College Football Playoff national championship game is a hot ticket.

The combination of Alabama and Clemson meeting in a rematch of last year’s final, plus the proximity of the schools to Tampa, is causing prices to surge for Monday night’s game.

As of Sunday afternoon, ticket prices on StubHub ranged from $1,599 for a ticket in the upper deck to $17,820 for a sideline seat in the lower bowl in the 70,000-seat stadium.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is 572 miles northwest of Tampa, while Clemson, South Carolina, is 572 miles northeast.

Both are within easy driving distance, whereas most fans of the Crimson Tide and Tigers were forced to fly cross-country to Glendale, Arizona, when the teams met a year ago.

College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock said that last season the CFP executives were talking in Arizona about how well an Alabama-Clemson matchup would do ticket-wise in Tampa.

“I love the fact that the fans from both schools can drive. And we see that in the demand for tickets,” he added. “We see that in the crowd at Playoff Fan Central. We see it at the concerts. You just see a lot of orange and a lot of crimson. I like that. It’s a good thing for the game.”

CAL: The school fired Coach Sonny Dykes in a surprise move after four seasons that produced just one bowl appearance.

Dykes left Louisiana Tech to replace Jeff Tedford and took over the struggling Cal program in 2013, but could never get the Bears turned around. They went 8-5 in 2015, but then slid back to 5-7 this season.

Dykes and the administration seemed to be at odds after that 2015 season during a prolonged negotiation of a contract extension.

The deal was finally worked out and Dykes’ deal was extended through the 2019 season. Dykes is owed more than $5 million under terms of the deal finalized in March.

ACC: Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford says the conference is likely to move its football championship game out of Charlotte, North Carolina, again if a state law that limits anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people is not repealed or adjusted.

Swofford gave no timetable Sunday for a decision on whether to relocate the 2017 game but he did say the conference will not wait as long as it did last year to move the game.

The ACC followed the NCAA’s lead and decided in September to pull its championship from Charlotte in response to North Carolina’s so-called “bathroom bill.”

OHIO STATE: Wide receiver Noah Brown says he will skip his final two years of eligibility to enter the NFL draft.