CFP Ratings down...

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

I think it just has blended too much in with the NFL playoffs and have become a bit of an afterthought. Think about it, 2 of the bluest blue bloods, the final 4 were all blue bloods with 4 of the top 6 fanbases overall. And still down.

CFP title game viewership down from last year

Ohio State's win over Notre Dame in Monday night's CFP National Championship game was the most-watched game of the season. However, it was a double-digit drop in viewers from last year.

www.espn.com

 

[HailToPitt725]

Totally agree. I think they need to move the national championship back to the Monday following New Year’s Day; there’s enough of a gap between conference championship weekend and the CFP First Round that they can move it up.

Ideally, I’d love for the Rose Bowl to decide the national champion on New Year’s Day each year, but that’d never happen for $$$ reasons.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Get rid of conference championships; expand this thing to 16; start two weeks after the season ends.

Round of 16 - December 14th
Round of 8 - 21st
Round of 4 - NYE/NYD
National Championship - Following Monday

College football season felt like a good movie that just didn't need to be as long as it was. You already lose a ton of momentum with that month off - particularly now that bowl games mean nothing and fans of teams not in the playoff emotionally check out.

 

[CJsE]

Get rid of conference championships; expand this thing to 16; start two weeks after the season ends.

Round of 16 - December 14th

That’s finals week for like 80% of the NCAA.

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

That’s finals week for like 80% of the NCAA.

LOL.......and that matters how nowadays? These guys are all in being mercenaries. I don't think a History final is going to cause them heartache.

 

[CJsE]

LOL.......and that matters how nowadays? These guys are all in being mercenaries. I don't think a History final is going to cause them heartache.

Because the NCAA and its schools need to preserve at least the thinnest of veneer on their "student athlete" distinctions.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

That’s finals week for like 80% of the NCAA.

We're still pretending to play school? I thought that facade went out the window years ago.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

We're still pretending to play school? I thought that facade went out the window years ago.

yep, when was the last time you heard of a players major during a broadcast? The PG had a story last season about Gandy I think doing a broadcast internship with the Fan. Or maybe announcing a few high school games? You can see how that academic experience motivated him to stay at Pitt.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

Get rid of conference championships; expand this thing to 16; start two weeks after the season ends.

Round of 16 - December 14th
Round of 8 - 21st
Round of 4 - NYE/NYD
National Championship - Following Monday

College football season felt like a good movie that just didn't need to be as long as it was. You already lose a ton of momentum with that month off - particularly now that bowl games mean nothing and fans of teams not in the playoff emotionally check out.

College football still the best regular season with an anti-climatic post-season. Didn't really change much with expanded playoff if anything it got worse. Your model is good, although I'd maybe take it a step further and just have an 8 team playoff, and have the championship on NYD in the granddaddy of them the Rose Bowl. Ratings are always very good on NYD and it is still synonymous with College football.

 

[Upg bobcat]

That’s finals week for like 80% of the NCAA.

The FCS has been playing playoff games during that week for years (as well as having playoff games the week before and the week after, which are probably finals week for the remaining 20% of schools).

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

I think it just has blended too much in with the NFL playoffs and have become a bit of an afterthought. Think about it, 2 of the bluest blue bloods, the final 4 were all blue bloods with 4 of the top 6 fanbases overall. And still down.

CFP title game viewership down from last year

Ohio State's win over Notre Dame in Monday night's CFP National Championship game was the most-watched game of the season. However, it was a double-digit drop in viewers from last year.

www.espn.com

How sustainable will the live gate be? To make it to the final, you're asking fans to make 3 road trips within the span of less than a month. Sure, OSU, Georgia, etc, can probably hang. But if TCU or Washington make it to the finals again, I think there will be a lot of tickets to be had.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

That’s finals week for like 80% of the NCAA.

Is this a serious post?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I think it just has blended too much in with the NFL playoffs and have become a bit of an afterthought. Think about it, 2 of the bluest blue bloods, the final 4 were all blue bloods with 4 of the top 6 fanbases overall. And still down.

CFP title game viewership down from last year

Ohio State's win over Notre Dame in Monday night's CFP National Championship game was the most-watched game of the season. However, it was a double-digit drop in viewers from last year.

www.espn.com

How about not scheduling it opposite a Presidential inauguration? Freaking idiots!

Also, yes, it's too late in January.

Final Four should be Jan 1

Using this year:

1st Round: Dec 14
Quarterfinals: Dec 21
Semis: Jan 1
Final: Jan 9

No need to use bowl games as hosts. This country offers plenty of large stadiums which who are more than capable of hosting. First 2 rounds should be on campus.

 

[Dan1911]

The season is now too long. I liked when New Year's Day decided everything. An additional week was tolerable. I'm indifferent by the end of January. Season length is a real problem.

 

[PittPharm2002]

How about not scheduling it opposite a Presidential inauguration? Freaking idiots!

Also, yes, it's too late in January.

Final Four should be Jan 1

Using this year:

1st Round: Dec 14
Quarterfinals: Dec 21
Semis: Jan 1
Final: Jan 9

No need to use bowl games as hosts. This country offers plenty of large stadiums which who are more than capable of hosting. First 2 rounds should be on campus.

They weren’t in conflict with the inauguration.

College football simply isn’t that popular

 

[S.R.M.]

How sustainable will the live gate be? To make it to the final, you're asking fans to make 3 road trips within the span of less than a month. Sure, OSU, Georgia, etc, can probably hang. But if TCU or Washington make it to the finals again, I think there will be a lot of tickets to be had.

The easy solution is to play all but the national title game at the higher seed's home stadium. Just follow the NFL and FCS model. Only play the national title game at a neutral site.

 

[happjack]

Not surprised with the rating, the average sports fan stops caring about college football at about 9:00 PM January 1st, only boomers think Notre Dame is anything special and most of them are in bed or watching FOX News at 9PM on a Monday, no one outside of Ohio cares about Ohio State, neither team had a superstar player, people are footballed out after two days of NFL playoff games, and the biggie the conference expansions have turned a huge amount of casual sports fans off of the sport.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

They weren’t in conflict with the inauguration.

College football simply isn’t that popular

Yes they were. On a winter weekday/night, the national championship of America's 2nd most popular sports league (or 3rd if some metric shows the NBA as most popular) should be the national story. Instead, the nation had Inauguration Day on its mine. OSU/ND was an afterthought. My guess is that primetime cable news ratings, especially on Fox News was near record highs for coverage of the rally or party or whatever Trump and King Elon were doing at the Wizards' arena. It is not a good idea to go head to head with such an important daylong event.

 

[upj87]

I think it just has blended too much in with the NFL playoffs and have become a bit of an afterthought. Think about it, 2 of the bluest blue bloods, the final 4 were all blue bloods with 4 of the top 6 fanbases overall. And still down.

CFP title game viewership down from last year

Ohio State's win over Notre Dame in Monday night's CFP National Championship game was the most-watched game of the season. However, it was a double-digit drop in viewers from last year.

www.espn.com

uh, rumor has it there was another nationwide event going on that evening that had not occurred during other CFP championship games that may have taken a few eyeballs away...nothing to do with NFL playoff overload....

 

[Chairman Moe]

The easy solution is to play all but the national title game at the higher seed's home stadium. Just follow the NFL and FCS model. Only play the national title game at a neutral site.

My initial thought after reading your comment was that the NCAA wants to "preserve" the grandeur of the NYD Bowl Games (Orange, Cotton, Sugar, Rose, Peach, Fiesta). But with the added CFP games the traditional "feel" of those Bowl Games has diminished. That, and with the sole exception of the Rose Bowl, those games are not played at a "special" site. All are played at stadiums that house an NFL team

As we all know, it's about the TV $$. So why not (as you suggest) follow the NFL/FCS model? The only reason I can think of is that all of those stadium/bowl venues are either in warm climates (Rose and Orange) or are domed (Sugar, Cotton, Peach, Fiesta)

 

[happjack]

uh, rumor has it there was another nationwide event going on that evening that had not occurred during other CFP championship games that may have taken a few eyeballs away...nothing to do with NFL playoff overload....

The Inauguration was at Noon, it had nothing to do with the low rating, plus didn’t Trump pop up at halftime? There was nothing appealing about this game, both teams are boring, neither has a superstar player, and the casual sports fan has NFL playoffs on their mind. Joe Six Pack who lives in New Jersey, North Carolina or even Texas doesn’t care about Ohio State vs. Notre Dame on a Monday night in mid-January.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

The Inauguration was at Noon, it had nothing to do with the low rating, plus didn’t Trump pop up at halftime? There was nothing appealing about this game, both teams are boring, neither has a superstar player, and the casual sports fan has NFL playoffs on their mind. Joe Six Pack who lives in New Jersey, North Carolina or even Texas doesn’t care about Ohio State vs. Notre Dame on a Monday night in mid-January.

6.5 million would-be college football fans were watching Fox News for Trumpmania coverage between 7PM-11PM.

And it's not just the direct competition. Monday was Trump Day for a good portion of America. It was like Christmas, your mind just isn't on a college football game. I dont think you can fully explain how excited these people were for the return of their God. It is tough to switch up your mindset and put on college football.

Media Relations | Fox News

press.foxnews.com

CFP 22.1 million

Fox News Primetime Teump Coverage: 6.5 million

I would venture to say that 50%-75% of that Fox News audience would have watched the CFP if it wasn't Inauguration Day.

 

[pittdan77]

College football fans get butt hurt too easily. A large number of fans end the season butt hurt that their school didn't meat unrealistic expectations. There are fans butt hurt their school didn't make the playoff despite their certainty they should. Then there are butt hurt fans that are mad their school lost or their conference didn't make it. Heck, even the people that cover these schools get butt hurt because their assumptions about the natural order of things were broken.

When you have so many bitter and butt hurt fans, they end up being dismissive of the championship and the champion so they just don't bother watching.

 

[CJsE]

We're still pretending to play school? I thought that facade went out the window years ago.

But that's another domino on their legal defense. The only reason they haven't been completely obliterated in court is because of their student-athlete distinction between college football and the pros, and their claim that the very distinction is what generates consumer interest in the sport. It is their one and only defense against any claims. Every move that they make disregarding the student part, the faster their destruction.

 

[Burgh15]

I actually thought the 5 straight days of football was sweet between the CFPs and NFL playoffs, but college football felt like an afterthought.

There is too much of a gap between the regular season and postseason. I wouldn't wait two weeks. Ditch the conference championships and start the playoffs the week after the regular season ends. Play games on campus until the championship.

Forever, college's biggest day is New Year's Day and after that interest decreases. Make that your big game day.