When ESPN cannot enthusiastically promote itself, there’s a problem. That was precisely the case this week in the aftermath of the national championship game.
Two days after Ohio State’s victory over Notre Dame, ESPN released the audience data: The game averaged 22.1 million viewers with a peak of 26.1 million in the second quarter, before the Buckeyes took control.
The number generated instant reaction on social media and across college football. Some suggested it was better than expected considering the game was played on a holiday (MLK Day) and on the day of the presidential inauguration. Also, cord-cutting has undermined ESPN’s reach.
Others noted that a showdown between two schools with national followings should have drawn millions more viewers.
Then came the headline on ESPN’s college football site, which turned into a no-spin zone for the occasion: “CFP title game viewership down from last year.”
And not by a little, either.
The 22.1 million viewers represented a 12 percent year-over-year decrease from the 25 million who watched Michigan’s victory over Washington on Jan. 8, 2024.
The Irish were on the brink of their first championship since 1988, the Buckeyes were driving for their first in a decade, yet it was the third-lowest rated championship broadcast of the CFP era, which began in the 2014 season.
Our view includes a morsel of nuance. The ratings were solid under the circumstances, but CFP title games are capable of so much more.
Nothing in college sports is easy. Scheduling the national championship for optimal TV exposure has challenges that run the gamut from manageable to climbing Mt. Everest on roller skates.
If the MLK holiday and Trump inauguration contributed to the year-over-year decline in viewership, the impact was marginal.
Far more impactful, in our view, is the CFP competition calendar that stretches 30 days from start to finish.
That features a 10-day break between the semifinals and the championship.
That must contend with the NFL playoffs sucking up every ounce of sports media oxygen.
And that obstacle will only become more daunting in the foreseeable future if the CFP leaves the current calendar intact and continues to stage the championship on a Monday in the second half of January. (For the 2026 season, the title game is scheduled for Jan. 25, 2027.)
The NFL is expected to add an 18th game at some point, thereby pushing the final weekend of the regular season deeper into January — an immense problem for college football.
Currently, the wild card and divisional rounds come between the CFP’s semifinals and championship. But if the 18th game pushes the NFL calendar back, the final weekend of the regular season and the wild card round (six games) would come between the CFP semifinals and title game.
More games mean more broadcast windows and more media attention — and less of both for the CFP.
(If you hadn’t noticed, the NFL’s wild card round includes a Monday night game. Under an expanded schedule, that game would fall on the night currently occupied by the national championship. ESPN owns the rights to both.)
In theory, the conference commissioners who run the CFP will digest the ratings from Monday night’s game, add contextual data from previous years, acknowledge what’s coming from the NFL and determine the calendar must move up by one week, at least, so there are fewer rounds in January.
Did we mention that nothing in college sports is easy?
Move the CFP up one week, and the quarterfinals become a pre-Christmas event. That means the six major bowls (Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton, Orange and Peach) cannot all host the quarterfinals and semifinals in a nice, neat New Year’s rotation.
There would be issues on the front end, as well.
Move the CFP up one week, and the round of on-campus games would be played the second weekend of December — the weekend immediately following the conference championships and playoff selections. There would be no break for teams in title games that are then seeded into the opening round.
Also, the Army-Navy game, which is currently unopposed on the second Saturday of December (and followed by the Heisman Trophy ceremony), would suddenly have very strong competition.
Moving the calendar up one week and keeping everything else in place simply does not work.
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The sport needs to carve out a new week, a new bye week, between CFP selection day and the start of the opening round.
There are two ways to accomplish that.
— Eliminate the conference championship games.
This change, radical but practical, seems feasible for every league but one: The SEC, where the championship game generates a huge TV audience — the Georgia-Texas matchup outdrew most of the CFP matchups — and is believed to be worth at least $40 million to the conference through its contract with ESPN.
— Start the season earlier.
For most schools, the regular season begins on the Labor Day weekend with games from Thursday through Monday. But several are played the previous Saturday, on what’s known as Week 0, so long as they receive exemptions from the NCAA.
That needs to change.
If competition for all 134 teams began Week 0, the regular season would end earlier. Conference championships could be played on Thanksgiving weekend, and the first Saturday of December would be dark for everyone save for Army, Navy and the Heisman ceremony.
Another option: Start the season Week 0 and eliminate the conference championships.
That combination would allow the CFP to move its calendar up two weeks and stage the championship game on New Year’s Day, at the Rose Bowl, every year.
And because that’s clearly the best outcome for the sport, the chances of it becoming reality are, unfortunately, infinitesimal.
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