‘What does it matter?’ CNN’s debate plans are confusing New Hampshire officials.

With much fanfare, CNN announced this week that it would host the network’s first debate on the 2024 presidential campaign, gathering the Republican candidates for a major event on January 21 at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.

There was just one problem: Saint Anselm had no idea what CNN was talking about.

“We were surprised to be included in a network press release about a debate we had not planned or booked,” said Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Saint Anselm. in a statement on Friday.

New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Chris Ager went one step further.

“The CNN thing came out and everyone said, ‘What difference does it make?’” Mr. Ager said in an interview. “I’m still scratching my head. And I still haven’t been contacted by CNN at all.”

However, a competing debate is scheduled three days earlier, hosted by CNN’s rivals at ABC News. The ABC debate, on January 18, will take place in Saint Anselm, and it has the approval of both the council and Republican state officials. “We have been planning ABC for months,” Mr. Ager said. “We have already searched the branch. We agree on many details.”

CNN’s announcement, Mr. Ager said, caught his team off guard. “For such a large, professional organization to announce a location on this date and the location doesn’t know it, something isn’t quite right,” he said.

A CNN spokeswoman said Friday: “We cannot speak to any miscommunication within Saint Anselm, but we are moving forward with our plans to host a debate in New Hampshire on January 21.”

ABC is the traditional host of presidential debates in New Hampshire ahead of the state’s first primary elections. The local station, WMUR-TV in Manchester, NH, which is co-hosting the January 18 debate, is New Hampshire’s only affiliate of the Big Three broadcast networks.

Mr. Ager said he was also concerned that CNN would hold a debate just two days before the Jan. 23 primary, which he said would leave the candidates little time to respond to key moments on stage.

“In New Hampshire, we want to give everyone a fair shot as much as possible,” he said.

The apparent bummer of the debate comes as the Republican National Committee is expected to announce Friday that candidates will be free to appear at any debate, eliminating a previous requirement that candidates could only participate in debates formally sanctioned by the party. The rule change would potentially provide more national exposure to the remaining candidates as they try to push against the front-runner, former President Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Trump has so far declined to appear at any of the four televised Republican primary debates. He has not yet indicated whether he will appear at the ABC event in New Hampshire on January 18.

CNN also said this week that it would host a televised debate in Des Moines at Drake University on Jan. 10 ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

Drake University published a press release promoting that event, so it appears the institution was aware of the network’s plans.

Shane Goldmacher reporting contributed.