ESPN, NFL lobby for changes in College Football Playoff calendar
Sources say that senior network executives as high up as ESPN President John Skipper are pushing for the change as a way to get better television ratings, but the CFP is unwilling to make such a move because it is committed to the original plan to hold tripleheader bowl games, including the semifinals, on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
“We’ve started a new tradition and we don’t want to back away from it now,” said Bill Hancock, the CFP’s executive director.
Meanwhile, the CFP is facing pressure on another front. The NFL is considering expanding its playoffs and moving one of the new games to Monday night when it would compete directly with the CFP championship.
Sources say NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell initiated a series of high-level meetings with some of the CFP’s most influential commissioners, including the SEC’s Mike Slive and the Big Ten’s Jim Delany. Goodell approached the commissioners to discuss the potential impact an NFL playoff expansion would have on the CFP championship game.
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/01/26/Events-and-Attractions/CFP.aspx
January 26th, 2015 at 2:36 PM ^
ESPN pulled in 28M viewers for each of the semifinal games and 33M for the final. For comparison, the AFC Championship game on CBS (America's most watched network) pulled in 37M viewers.
And ESPN paid $7.3B for the rights to the playoffs. They aren't moving it to another network. Even though ABC is part of the same company, its more beneficial to keep the game on ESPN than move it to ABC.
January 26th, 2015 at 12:24 PM ^
Completely unrelated but a friend of mine sent me this link.
http://i.imgur.com/HKI8CmG.png
Original Reddit Thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/2tqd5b/ms_paint_monday_126/
Edit: He is a Tennessee fan. Still a bit bitter about the Woodson Heisman.
January 26th, 2015 at 12:38 PM ^
Outstanding!!
January 26th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^
January 26th, 2015 at 12:35 PM ^
I am adamantly against expanding NFL playoffs. The NFL has publicly time and time again committed itself to improving player safety. The league has invested in research into head injuries, increased education into proper and safe tackling measures, and fined players for targeting penalties. For the NFL to expand playoffs, it would mean that teams would have to play and win more games to win the Super Bowl.
I may not know too much about head injuries, but I do know that more games would mean more opportunities for head injuries. Expanding playoffs would mean the NFL is putting revenue above player safety.
January 26th, 2015 at 12:43 PM ^
I'm a Browns fan. You simply cannot expand the playoffs/dilute the regular season enough for me.
Seriously. You can't.
January 26th, 2015 at 12:35 PM ^
The title game should be on a Saturday, as should the Super Bowl.
January 26th, 2015 at 12:39 PM ^
January 26th, 2015 at 12:47 PM ^
ESPN’s CFP contract mandates that the games are carried on ESPN — not ESPN2 or ESPNU, sources say. Plus, cable sources say that some of ESPN’s affiliate deals contain language that would prohibit the network from putting either the CFP championship or an NFL playoff game on ABC.
I like that the NFL can work its ego into a contract, but I think we're seeing where it hamstrings everyone if indeed conflicts were to arise. I mean, would it have made strategic sense if they allowed the odd game to get dumped to ABC or ESPN2? I think so, but apparently it is easier to ask college football to please take white-out to its contract with the network.
January 26th, 2015 at 1:06 PM ^
The NFL is actually scared of the playoff. It's obvious sports is fast becoming the best place for advertising dollars on television and the Super Bowl and NFL playoffs are still king. But the massive ratings for the CFP especially as compared to the BCS in just the first year on cable have to be worrisome to the NFL.
No other sport in America is close to football in popularity and television ratings (as much as ESPN would have you believe the NBA is, and its obvious soccer, hockey and baseball lag behind) and that has consistently worked to the NFL's advantage. But the move to the playoff puts the NCAA in the same ballpark.
January 26th, 2015 at 12:59 PM ^
GO away Goddell. Don't you have a league to mismanage?
January 26th, 2015 at 2:29 PM ^
January 26th, 2015 at 2:32 PM ^
Eliminate divisions and go conferences. Top 8 move on.
January 26th, 2015 at 4:48 PM ^
I rarely log in to post comments...but this is what's wrong with sports: "Sources say that senior network executives as high up as ESPN President John Skipper are pushing for the change as a way to get better television ratings". Sad, really...
January 26th, 2015 at 6:59 PM ^
so more teams with losing season records getting into the playoffs...... talk about nail biting excitment.
January 26th, 2015 at 9:36 PM ^
College should fight back by dropping the ridiculous need to wait nearly 4 weeks to play these semi-final games. Take on the NFL last quarter of their schedule with the college football playoff system.
This pandering to pointless antiquated bowl games and the bandits who run them is absolutely silly.
Run a 6 or 8 team playoff in December starting the first weekend after final exams and use campus sites for rounds 1 and 2 or just round 1.
Or let venues bid for the games all over the country.
The bowls can become what the bowls are. ESPN will still pay to show them and we'll still watch.