Clay Travis asks why. Different theories on X such as lack of ABC viewing options, thurs/Friday traditionally poor viewership, season dragging too long, 12 is too many teams, NIL and the portal eroding the interest, etc. It is concerning that the new format produced less interest. I personally think the format needs to reduce to 8 teams and the final 4 should be on New Years.
The final four in the expanded CFB playoff tanked in tv ratings for both games.
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Clay Travis asks why. Different theories on X such as lack of ABC viewing options, thurs/Friday traditionally poor viewership, season dragging too long, 12 is too many teams, NIL and the portal eroding the interest, etc. It is concerning that the new format produced less interest. I personally think the format needs to reduce to 8 teams and the final 4 should be on New Years.
I have a feeling that the OSU vs ND will go through the roof
I do not. In fact, I’m not sure the west coast or the south will be all that interested in this game.
I don't have cable. Watched PSU vs ND game @ a friend's house. Probably won't watch the final. If it was on ABC I would watch.
These games shouldn’t be Thursday and Friday night and not on a main network station. I know ESPN bought the rights to these games but ABC owns ESPN so was a dumb decision on their side.
Only about 33% of the US population have college degrees and if your degree is not from a power football school in a major conference your interest in the sport likely drops once your school finishes its schedule. There is no doubt a passionate group of core CFB fans that will do anything to see their team/school play but relative to the overall population especially on a week night it is a small audience. In most major cities college athletics are an after-thought compared to pro sports.
That’s true. Unlike NFL teams like the Cowboys and Steelers that have world wide followings, even the college programs that have huge followings like OSU and PSU really only have at most regional followings; there really is no Buckeye or Nittany Lion Nation. The only program that I can think of that approached a national following other than maybe ND, which has to do with the Catholic angle, was Miami in the 80s and early 90s because that was a cultural thing.
How do these numbers compare to the big regular season and early round games. College ball is largely regional. Although ND and PSU probably have a much bigger footprint than most.
Were people turned off by the previous weeks having several blowouts?
In the past years, football was all but done on Jan 01. Stretching it out 3 more weeks is maybe too long? The final game should be this weekend.
Too many changes to the brand in too little time? Transfer portal, NIL, new playoffs are huge changes. Portal and NIL with basically no oversight isnt doing the game any favors.
Several of the more recent powers were missing this year as well. Bama, Tennessee?, Michigan, USC?, Pitt were all down and out. And replaced with Indiana, SMU, Boise, ASU.
Just kidding with Pitt.
Keep in mind though, part of the West coast are now in the B1G - especially the big named schools of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington.
They do need to have the CF Playoffs, however, on the weekend and not during the week in the future. The big TV markets (52% of the country) are now in B1G territory and the SEC hates it
Well they're not going to reduce it. Eliminate CCGs and follow the same schedule as FCS and that's no longer an issue
ESPN certainly isn't mad abou 20.6M
Less people have cable every year. That doesn't include streaming numbers. I watched on ESPN plus not ESPN even though I have cable because there's typically a few second delay on cable compared to ESPN+
College football is traditionally a Saturday event. Our playoff games should be on Saturdays, even if the NFL starts airing games on that day after ccg week.
The games also ran late, ours being on a Thursday when most of the world worked the next morning.
Also, if OSU vs Texas drew 20+ million viewers, that's pretty good. What was last years? OP didn't show last year's data or even our games data.
The games also ran late, ours being on a Thursday when most of the world worked the next morning.
Also, if OSU vs Texas drew 20+ million viewers, that's pretty good. What was last years? OP didn't show last year's data or even our games data.
Don't remember the 2023 semis but I think the championship drew something like 26 to 27 million which ND and OSU should surpass
"It's a cultural thing" Wow, I haven't heard those code words since I retired from a predominately A-A workplace. Another good one that the A-As used was "He doesn't get along with people". In other words the white guy is a redneck.
What I meant by that is that was the time when rap music and rap culture was overtaking America and becoming the major cultural influence over all races in the mid 80s to early 90s, and Miami with the help of Luther Campbell became the sports team that was emblematic of that. My comment was not intended to be racial in any way. One of my best friends, who is as white as can be, became a huge Miami fan at that time. The aura that surrounded that program was very seductive.
Rose drew 27M but Bama vs Michigan in the Rose Bowl is obviously going to outdraw it especially given the date and time it's played
Sugar was at 17M
NY6 averaged about 14 so they're doing great
Games should have been Saturday at 4 and 8.
I know they would compete with the nfl but college football is on Saturday
I know they would compete with the nfl but college football is on Saturday
The ratings would be awful against the NFL. Steelers and Ravens destroy both. The problem is this needs to end before the NFL playoff starts. That helps the portal craziness too
They definitely should’ve been on the weekend. However, even the non-descript Chargers-Texans game and the uncompetitive Ravens-Steelers game would’ve beaten the college games in the ratings.
I agree with that. It’s absurd for the college season to end in the third week of January; there’s so much unnecessary down time.
Because there were two rounds before the semis this year where in previous years there were only four teams.
This is the reality of where we are heading . As college football becomes more mercenary the traditional college fans are losing their intense loyalty to their schools and most everyone who loves football will inevitably gravitate to the NFL. College players are becoming paid free agents. If I want to follow paid free agents I’m doing it in the NFL where the talent level is much higher and the competition is competently regulated. The colleges and especially the NCAA probably don’t even realize it but they have presided over their own transition from the premier sport in America to a niche sport.
Clay is always bitching and talking about ratings.. His hidden agenda is the SEC needs to be in everything. Thats it! Thats his motive
Site with ratings articles about both games:
www.sportsmediawatch.com
Sports Media Watch
Stay up-to-date on latest sports media news, TV ratings and schedule information at Sports Media Watch, an industry authority since 2006.
www.sportsmediawatch.com
Could that possibly be because no SEC !!!!🤔😉🙄😏
Yep. Bag the meaningless conf. championship games. Got to 16 or down to 8 with normal week between games. and wrap this up before or at Christmas. Back up the regular season by a week if necessary by getting all teams started the last weekend of August.
Didn't the NFL only put games on Saturdays after the college season was over? Some how need to take December Saturday's back from the NFL.
The NFL TV contracts will make that difficult but maybe over time it can change
That is not going to happen. The NFL is a leviathan. It is the premier entertainment industry in the world and only getting more popular while all other forms of entertainment, movies, TV, music etc. are shrinking. Maybe video games have a shot.
Yep, Miami has always had problems drawing fans to their games. They'll show their stadium during games and you would think it's the 4th quarter of blowout games after fans are already leaving
Is winning the conference championship game really that meaningless? Seems like a fairly big accomplishment, especially in the BIG and SEC. And it's used towards seeding, which I got mixed feelings about.
They need to get rid of the bye week and rethink the automatic top seeds for conference champs.
I'd get rid of a non conference week. Pretty obvious very few to no big non conference matchups will be happening, since everyone is content to schedule cupcakes.
Do you think Oregon wishes they would have had our path to the semis or their path?
I agree with the bold though
Move Army-Navy to start the season as a standalone game. That allows a week to be picked up in December for the first round of the playoffs.
There are more PSU fans in PA who aren't alums than are. Same for every major program.
Well, to be honest, as much as I wanted to see it, a OSU-PSU second meeting would really have tanked ratings wise.
