It’s no secret ESPN wants the CFP to move the semifinals off New Year’s Eve to a more broadcast friendly January 2, and that the CFP folks are resisting the push.
So what happens if ESPN is correct in its concern about the ratings? I mean, it’s not just the date that may be an issue.
Of course, even if the semifinals were to move to Jan. 2 — or somehow stay on New Year’s Day — the numbers would be hard pressed to match last year. The Rose Bowl (14.8, 28.2M) and Sugar (15.2, 28.3M) bowls were the highest-rated and most-watched college football games since 2010, topping the previous four BCS championship games. A confluence of factors led the strong numbers, including the novelty of the playoffs and the high-profile nature of participants Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State and Oregon. Those will be difficult to replicate next season, regardless of the schedule.
I expect the “high-profile nature” of those games to repeat – that’s kind of the whole point to the structure of the CFP – but the novelty issue is obviously a different story. At some point the same people who felt the need to juice up college football’s postseason from the BCS to the CFP will get the shakes again, and then what? They’ll probably give in to the WWL on no longer competing with the ball dropping on Times Square (and why not, since this is about garnering a more broad-based national audience, anyway), but when even that doesn’t fix things, they’ll have little choice but to choose to take the next step.
When you’ve got postseason fever, there’s only one cure.
Get The Picture 
I fully expect the playoff to soon start around Halloween with the regular season to be cut to about 6 games, much like back in the 1920s.
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There will always be high profile, geographically diverse teams in the CFP. The committee will make sure of it, that’s the main reason for the committee’s existence. You will never see two SEC teams, Baylor and Clemson make up the CFP, not enough national interest to drive television ratings.
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well, at least they aren’t pretending this is good for the players, who end up getting the start of winter semester crowded a little more. Or the fans who actually attend these burgeoning studio shows, who are probably off more easily for a NYE game than for January 2. I mean, the whole world goes back to work, school, etc after New Year’s Day. Why should we worry about inconveniencing the people in the stadium if we can get a couple more eyeballs after the holiday?
I guess the college presidents won’t complain, because they like the checks, and whatever the check writers want, they’re happy to grovel for.
Hey! Maybe they should play the CFB playoff semis on Memorial Day weekend! There’s NOTHING going on then, and then the final game could be on July 4! I see $$$$$$$ everywhere.
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What about the Indy 500?
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How soon before the playoffs start on Labor Day?
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How out of touch are these people? How is this not obvious? Party for New Year’s on Thursday (31). Recover on Jan 1 (Friday). College games that Sat (2nd) – you know, just like most other college games, played on Sat. Then NFL on that Sunday. Then back to normal life on Monday Jan 4. Why would you purposely cut off that audience that’d rather party than watch football anyway while totally inconveniencing your audience that wants to do both? Just goes to show there’s no such thing as common sense. Next thing you know they’ll be playing the actually Nat’l Championship game on a Monday that kicks off at like 9:37pm or something…oh wait…
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