Last year’s College Football Playoff games were on New Year’s Eve, and their ratings suffered. The CFP committee is exploring other ways to get people to watch.
Last year’s College Football Playoff semifinal games didn’t go so well. They tried to compete with the hype of New Year’s Eve and took their lumps for it. The Clemson-Oklahoma game was interesting until halftime and the Alabama-Michigan State game was a blowout, which compounded their problems. Now, the CFP committee is willing to move their games to a day where more people will watch them, per USA Today Sports.
Goodbye to “changing the paradigm.” @CFBPlayoff explores moving semifinals from New Year’s Eve. https://t.co/IX0uRETFsn via @USATODAYsports
— George Schroeder (@GeorgeSchroeder) July 13, 2016
The changes won’t happen until 2018, so we have another year to see how the New Year’s Eve games will fare against the pomp and circumstance of a national holiday. The ratings for the second year of the playoffs dropped off a whopping 40 percent due to the blowout nature of the games and timing, but executive director Bill Hancock stated that they were still committed to the day in the near future.
The dates for the 2016 games are already set in stone and can’t be moved, and in 2017, the bowl rotation goes to the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl, both of which are traditionally played on New Year’s Day.
New Year’s Day might be an option for the committee depending on how the Rose and Sugar bowls go, as most people will likely be relaxing at home with their families, and not out partying. Regardless, the CFP committee must make a decision soon, or their ratings will slip again.
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