Having CFP games on Dec 31 was disastrous idea

[OnceAhawk]

Having the College Football Playoff on New Year’s Eve contributed to a ratings plunge, with viewership for both semifinals dropping more than 36 percent from a year ago. This could also be a problem again next season.

http://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sp.../2016/01/04/logue-cow-stanford-band/78270214/

 

[*hawksrock*]

Having the College Football Playoff on New Year’s Eve contributed to a ratings plunge, with viewership for both semifinals dropping more than 36 percent from a year ago. This could also be a problem again next season.

http://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sp.../2016/01/04/logue-cow-stanford-band/78270214/

espn said before hand, it didn't matter when the games were on people would watch anyway. Perhaps this theory is flawed? ( I believe they paid over 7 BILLION dollars for the right to air these games for 10yrs, they better hope these numbers don't drop that much next year.)

 

[OnceAhawk]

espn said before hand, it didn't matter when the games were on people would watch anyway. Perhaps this theory is flawed? ( I believe they paid over 7 BILLION dollars for the right to air these games for 10yrs, they better hope these numbers don't drop that much next year.)

not sure how the ad contracts work but if ratings are down this badly, won't ESPN take a huge revenue hit on these 2 games?

 

[thewop]

didn't help neither game was competitive. I also dislike the games being on the 31st though. Too many people work. Either taking inventory or pushing to make a last minute sales push to end the year strong. Many are off, many are not.

 

[Scherrman]

espn said before hand, it didn't matter when the games were on people would watch anyway. Perhaps this theory is flawed? ( I believe they paid over 7 BILLION dollars for the right to air these games for 10yrs, they better hope these numbers don't drop that much next year.)

ESPN said that? I have read that ESPN doesn't want to have the games on New Years Eve but has no choice since the NCAA decides. I think ESPN knows better and would rather have them on different dates. If the NCAA was smart they would leave it up to someone that knows what they are doing when it comes to viewership.

 

[El Simbolo]

Didn't some BCS bowls try having their games New Years Eve to little success? The early game's viewership likely low because its the AFTERNOON of a weekday non-holiday workday. The ratings for the evening game probably low because people go to non football New Years Eve parties. Plus both were blowouts this year. As for this year's Peach Bowl ratings, I'm guessing they were TERRIBLE!

 

[BioHawk]

The bigger problem is most people were at work when the games were on.

 

[El Simbolo]

Why would the NCAA decide? The CFP is not run by the NCAA

The system's problem is that the two most powerful bowls (Rose and Sugar) will not allow their games to be played on the 31st - thank goodness, at least for the Rose. And Rose won't allow a shift from their timeslot - again, good for the Rose Bowl!

I wonder how the ratings for the noon New Years Day games have compared with the evening New Years Eve games?

 

[wneff]

Serious question: why should I care? I can that a 3 PM central time kickoff on a weekday can be a problem for some and that some have better options on NYE

Didn't some BCS bowls try having their games New Years Eve to little success? The early game's viewership likely low because its the AFTERNOON of a weekday non-holiday workday. The ratings for the evening game probably low because people go to non football New Years Eve parties. Plus both were blowouts this year. As for this year's Peach Bowl ratings, I'm guessing they were TERRIBLE!

They used to have bad bowl games on NYE. I remember some Astro-Blue Bonnet Bowls and maybe the Peach Bowl when it was a lesser bowl. For a few years in the 70's, the Sugar Bowl was on NYE (this was when only the Cotton, Rose, and Orange were on the 1st).

 

[ANYCHawk]

The bigger problem is most people were at work when the games were on.

The games were at 4 and 8 not 10 a.m. and 2.

About half of the country lives in the eastern time zone and 75 percent in eastern or central. The work excuse doesn't hold much weight.

 

[anon_i8nzeu2gbf0ba]

This year it would have made sense to play the two CFP games on January 2, a Saturday. But the brilliant minds who conceive of all these things convinced themselves people would alter long-established New Year's Eve traditions and bow down to their wishes. Ooops.

Say, here's another great idea: How about playing 3 of the biggest Big Ten bowl games at the same time, and while we're at it, let's call the conference divisions "Leaders" and "Legends." Yah, that's the ticket. LOL

 

[Scherrman]

Why would the NCAA decide? The CFP is not run by the NCAA

The system's problem is that the two most powerful bowls (Rose and Sugar) will not allow their games to be played on the 31st - thank goodness, at least for the Rose. And Rose won't allow a shift from their timeslot - again, good for the Rose Bowl!

I wonder how the ratings for the noon New Years Day games have compared with the evening New Years Eve games?

I may have been wrong saying that it was the NCAA. I just know that ESPN did not have a choice in the games being played on New Years Eve.

 

[MNHawk]

New Year's Eve has zero tradition for being a football night. Many people do all different versions of partying to celebrate the passage into the new year, whether it's family/church oriented partying or going to events/night clubs/sports bars. I didn't watch much of the first game because I was running errands after work for our family-oriented party plans later in the evening. I watched a little of the 2nd playoff game, but just enough to see it wasn't a good game and went back to board games with teenagers/friends. I wasn't aware that the playoff games this year were going to be on New Year's Eve until a couple weeks before the date and when I learned it I thought it was a stupid choice. Guess based on the ratings I was right.

 

[ichawk24]

The CFP chose NYE, not ESPN. The CFP is a consortium of university presidents and chancellors from all 10 FBS conferences, but those from the P5 have the most political power.

The most powerful conferences, the B1G, SEC, and P12 (with the B12 luckily landing slot #4) used short-term financial and political muscle to create structural advantages to keep their place at the top of the pyramid. The primary goal was to cement the Rose and the Sugar as the most important bowls by placing them in prime time slots on NYD with zero competition. So the Rose is played at 4pm CT and Sugar at 8pm CT with no other games occurring at the same time.

The CFP itself was somewhat secondary. The P5 conferences can't assure themselves of making the CFP, but they can assure themselves the Rose/Sugar setup. The Rose/Sugar setup gives them the highest visibility and payout, which _probably_ gives them CFP berths.

The B1G and SEC locked in the most money with the Rose/Sugar and Orange Bowl setups. The P12 and B12 are the next tier. The ACC the next tier with the Orange.

Everyone thinks the conferences, expansion and realignment is to maximize money for the conferences, but that isn't necessarily true. They are creating structural advantages to keep them above the Gang of Five conferences. There are ways they could maximize money, but instead they choose to give themselves the place at the foront of the line.

 

[Menace Sockeyes]

ESPN can't seem to stop getting in their own way. I think assuming ESPN had no say in the matter (and that they didn't ensure there would no competing bowls at the same time as the New Year's Six) is a bit naïve.

 

[timinatoria]

You mean we listened to Jimmy Kimmel singing in all those stupid commercials all year for nothing?!?

Son of a.....

 

[anon_i8nzeu2gbf0ba]

Yah... It was just wishful singing. LOL

 

[CP84]

I think the matchups were just better last year. Nobody outside of their states really cared about Clemson vs Oklahoma. Ohio State vs Bama would have been a bigger draw than MSU vs Bama.

Last year you had FSU with Winston, Oregon with Mariota to go along with Bama and OSU.

 

[BioHawk]

The games were at 4 and 8 not 10 a.m. and 2.

About half of the country lives in the eastern time zone and 75 percent in eastern or central. The work excuse doesn't hold much weight.

On the West coast, that's 1:00 and 5:00. The first game would be over before most of them got home and for a large number of people the first half of the second game would be over. It most certainly does hold weight.

Even so, a large number of people don't come home on New Year's Eve and watch TV. They have get togethers or parties to go to. Even if the game was on they weren't really watching it. Having important football games like these on New Year's Eve is stupid.

 

[GPRHAWK]

No way this continues. Maybe one more year but not again if New Year's Eve game ratings are low again. I was thinking how nice it would have been if the playoffs were on Saturday this year. I know the rose bowl is not willing to give up their time slot on New Year's Day, but they could still have a semifinal game at 1200 CST and 800 CST on New Year's Day (when the Rose is not a semifinal game) or have just one of the semifinal games on New Year's Day prime time and one on Jan 2nd prime time. Play the other 2 or 3 New Years six bowls on New Year's Eve day if you don't want any of them on at the same time. So next year on New Year's Day (actually Jan. 2nd since New Year's Day is on Sunday), Peach (semifinal) at 1200 CST, Rose at 400 and Fiesta (semifinal) at 800. Sugar, Orange and Cotton on New Year's Eve day or could put the Sugar or Orange on Jan. 3rd if they both want prime time.

 

[El Simbolo]

If New Years Eve next year is a Saturday it might work out OK. If they want the two semifinals on the same day at different times lots then This is probably what they should do based on the day of the week of New Years Day:

Sunday: games on Saturday the 31st and Monday the 2nd. Championship Monday the 9th
Monday: games on Saturday the 30th and Monday the 1st. Championship Monday the 8th
Tuesday: games on Monday the 31st (maybe Saturday the 29th) and Tuesday the 1st. Championship Monday the 7th or 14th (or Thursday the 10th)
Wednesday: games on Tuesday the 31st (maybe Saturday the 28th) and Wednesday the 1st. Championship Monday the 6th or 13th (or Thursday the 9th)
Thursday: games on Thursday the 1st* and Friday the 2nd (maybe Saturday the 3rd). Championship Monday the 12th
Friday: games on Friday the 1st* and Saturday the 2nd. Championship Monday the 11th
Saturday: games on Friday the 31st and Saturday the 1st. Championship Monday the 10th

This would require the Rose and Sugar to not be the last of the 6 bowls to be played on the years with the asterisks. I assume those two bowls prefer to not have other major bowls played after them.

 

[St. Louis Hawk]

I actually thought having a bowl game on January 1 at 4:10 p.m. Central was a bigger disaster ...

 

[MeetTheFerentz]

There are so many ways they could have done this better. It's absolutely befuddling to me that they had the semifinal games on NYE instead of Jan 2nd. It must have literally taken a conference room full of chimpanzee to decide that it was the best option.

There should NEVER, EVER be such an important game on the afternoon of the 31st when it falls on a weekday. I simply cannot fathom how anyone thought it would be a good idea. Whoever made the decision really underestimated fans and the power of tradition. I don't know a single non-football fan that knew when the semifinal games were being played this year, but everyone knew when the Rose Bowl was played (and I'm not talking about Iowa fans).

While people could argue forever about whether or not the Rose has a "right" to its Jan 1st 2 PM PST time slot, it looks to be here to stay; personally I like it. This year was set up perfectly for Jan 2nd semifinals, but I know it's not always that easy. For years when Jan 2nd doesn't conveniently fall on a Saturday, there are better options. 1) Play the games on the previous or following Saturday; 2) Play one game NYE night and the second game NYD night; 3) Always play both games NYD, one before the Rose and one after (unless Rose is a semifinal itself); 4) Play all NY6 games on NYD - 2 early, 2 midday, and 2 night, with semis always being a midday and night game. The sad thing is that even though I think most college football fans would absolutely love this last settup (seems like good 'ole days), it will never happen because one network has a monopoly on the NY6, so there will never be major games played at the same time.

It's too bad, because everyone has multiple TV's and just about everyone has the ability to DVR more than one channel at a time, so no one ever has to really miss anything.