The College Football Playoff committee made changes for its semifinal games this winter, just not the changes many actually wanted. Regardless, the CFP committee believes starting the two semifinal games an hour earlier than previously scheduled will result in more television viewers.
Rather than starting at 4 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET like they did last year, this year's CFP semifinal games, the Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl, will begin at 3 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. ET, respectively. Like last year, they will be played on Dec. 31, airing on ESPN.
Including the upcoming CFP, the committee has the next 10 tournaments scheduled and seven of them are scheduled for New Year's Eve. It is unclear if the time changes will apply to all future NYE semifinal games.
The CFP committee also announced it would move the Orange Bowl from Dec. 31 to Dec. 30, but has not announced a start time for that game. Other changes included moving the Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl Game and Sugar Bowl from Sunday, Jan. 1 to Monday, Jan. 2.
"As we committed earlier this year, we have looked at the landscape for the upcoming season and are confident that this change will make it easier for more fans to watch the games on television and also will benefit fans who will attend the games in person," CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock said in a statement. "The semifinals will be played on Saturday for the first time. The Capital One Orange Bowl will be in an evening time slot, which is its tradition."
"The first two years have shown us that the playoff is extremely popular with fans and that we successfully struck an appropriate balance creating a new event while maintaining the great traditions that have enabled college football to hold such an important place in the country's culture," Hancock concluded.
TV ratings for this past season's semifinals were down 40 percent from the previous year, when the semifinal games were on New Year's Day. The drop off was so dramatic ESPN had to pay $20 million back to advertisers who blamed the network for poor scheduling. ESPN could lower its ratings expectations for next year's NYE semifinals, but that will only make advertisers call for the games to be moved back a day.
The 40 percent dip in ratings for the semifinals was also harsh enough to influence a 15 percent ratings drop for the CFP National Championship game. If money really does talk, ESPN and the CFP committee might be forced to listen.
