Miami will host more than a title game when the College Football Playoff National Championship arrives. Before kickoff, a familiar ritual will set the tone, blending sport, spectacle and tradition under the South Florida lights.
The national anthem has become a moment of pause amid the chaos, often elevating the event beyond football. Recent championships have turned that performance into a headline of its own, shaped by star power and symbolism.
As preparations intensify in Miami, attention is quietly shifting toward the voice chosen to open the night. The NCAAF decision reflects more than music, it hints at the mood the championship wants to strike.
Who is performing the national anthem?
There will be no traditional vocal performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship. Instead, the national anthem will be performed in American Sign Language (ASL) by 18-year-old Maria Pernalete, a senior at Miami Palmetto Senior High School.
A view of the American flag during the national anthem in 2015 (Source: Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Her performance places accessibility and inclusion at the center of one of college football’s most visible moments. She is part of Miami-Dade County Public Schools and receives support through the district’s Department of Exceptional Student Education, which serves Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students across the county.
How the anthem ceremony will be presented in Miami
The ceremony will begin with the presentation of the Nation’s Colors by a Joint Armed Forces Color Guard from the Military District of Washington, featuring members of the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Space Force and Coast Guard.
A giant American flag will then be unfurled on the field by volunteers from the Miami-Dade community. Before the national anthem, “America the Beautiful” will be performed by the Florida Memorial University Ambassador Chorale, led by Dr. Argarita Johnson.
The song will also be signed in ASL by 17-year-old Brianna Therve, a junior at Barbara Goleman High School. Florida Memorial University, the only historically Black university in South Florida, brings historical and cultural significance to the championship’s opening sequence.
