The highly anticipated launch of the 12-team college football playoff faced an unexpected challenger in TV ratings: Saturday NFL games. In a surprising turn of events, the NFL’s Saturday matchups drew a significantly larger viewing audience than the inaugural playoff games, raising questions about the playoff’s ability to capture the nation’s attention.
NFL Dominates Saturday Ratings
The Texans-Chiefs game on NBC averaged a whopping 15.5 million viewers, easily surpassing the 6.4 million who tuned in for the SMU-Penn State playoff game on TNT. Later, the Steelers-Ravens matchup on Fox drew 15.4 million viewers, dwarfing the 8.6 million that watched Clemson take on Texas in the playoff.
The NFL’s ability to command such a large Saturday audience, even with non-playoff games, underscores its dominance in the sports TV landscape.
– Sports media analyst John Krueger
College Playoff Struggles to Compete
Despite featuring high-profile programs like Clemson, Texas, and Ohio State, the college football playoff games failed to match the NFL’s drawing power. The Friday night game between Indiana and Notre Dame averaged 13.4 million viewers, while Tennessee-Ohio State on Saturday night drew 14.3 million – respectable numbers but still trailing the NFL.
- Playoff ratings fall short of regular season – The playoff games averaged 10.6 million viewers, higher than all but four college games this season. However, this suggests the playoff failed to generate significantly more interest than marquee regular season matchups.
- NFL’s Saturday surge catches many by surprise – While the NFL often dominates Sundays, its ability to outdraw the playoff on Saturday came as a shock to many in the sports media world who expected the new playoff format to be a ratings juggernaut.
Evaluating the Expanded Playoff’s TV Future
As the college football world digests these surprising ratings results, questions emerge about the long-term viability and growth potential of the 12-team playoff model from a TV viewership perspective:
- Can the playoff expand its audience? With the NFL asserting its ratings dominance even on Saturdays, growing the playoff audience in future years may prove challenging, especially in markets with competing NFL franchises.
- Will scheduling changes be considered? To avoid going head-to-head with the NFL, playoff organizers may explore alternative scheduling options like weeknights or Fridays. However, this could create new logistical and viewership hurdles.
As the college football playoff navigates this new era, adapting to the evolving sports media landscape and finding ways to assert itself in an NFL-dominated world will be crucial. The initial ratings may be disappointing, but with the right adjustments and strategic vision, there’s still potential for the playoff to thrive in the years to come.
