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CFP to explore moving first-round games out of NFL broadcast windows in the future
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CFP executive director Rich Clark knows it’s hard to compete with the NFL. Typically, the NFL dominates its time slots, which is why other leagues do their best to avoid those windows.
However, in the first 12-team Playoff, 2 of the opening-round games went head-to-head with the NFL. SMU-Penn State and Clemson-Texas went against the Steelers-Ravens and Chiefs-Texans on Dec. 21 and the NFL easily bested the College Football Playoff ratings. As a result, Clark said the Playoff will explore changing the broadcast lineup in the future.
Clark appeared on The Varsity podcast and acknowledged the potential for greater viewership outside the NFL windows.
“This is another thing that we’re going to need to look at,” Clark told host John Ourand in an interview that published Sunday. “Obviously the NFL is supreme when it comes to sporting events and viewership. And we want to find where the best win-win solution is here.
“Right now we have 2 of our games that were bumping up on NFL games, so we want to see what’s the best way that we can adjust to make it so that viewers can see all that they want and not have to miss that NFL game, or more likely miss one of our games. So we’ll talk about that and see how we can adjust our schedule to make it more compatible for all viewers to see as much as they possibly can. But it’s something that we’re going to need to look at.”
The Chiefs-Texans matchup averaged 15.5 million viewers while the SMU-Penn State matchup averaged just 6.4 million. Steelers-Ravens averaged 15.4 million while the Clemson-Texas game averaged 8.6 million. Both CFP games in those time slots were also broadcast on TNT while all other CFP matchups this season were broadcast on ESPN networks.
For the quarterfinals of the CFP, no conflict with the NFL will occur. The Orange Bowl will kick off on Thursday while the Cotton Bowl will kick off on Friday.
Bryce Lazenby covers college football for Saturday Down South. A Nashville native, his previous stops include FanSided, Dimers, and The Leaf-Chronicle.
