College Football Player rights holder ESPN should receive a healthy bump on the Nielsen TV ratings this Monday when Clemson (14-0) plays Alabama (13-1) for the national championship in Glendale, Ariz. Clemson is the top ranked team in the Coaches’ poll, but the Tide, which has won three of the last six titles, is favored by six and a half points.
Last year, when Ohio State romped to a 42-20 win over Oregon in the first ever title game last year, ESPN broke all existing cable records with a draw of 33.4 million viewers and an 18.2 household rating.
That should ease some ESPN’s pain after TV ratings tanked last week after the CFP selection committee refused to budge on its decision to keep this year’s two semi-final games on New Year’s Eve last Thursday instead of moving them to a more fan friendly Sat. Jan. 2.
According to the final Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, household ratings for the two ESPN televised games featuring Clemson vs. Oklahoma and Alabama vs. Michigan State plummeted 37% compared to last year’s set of games, while overall deliveries dropped 40%, marking a net loss of 11.2 million overall viewers. Both games were blowouts. Clemson defeated OU, 37-17, in the Orange Bowl and Alabama buried Michigan State, 38-0, in the Cotton Bowl.
But the date of the games, kickoff times and the lack of drama were a toxic combination, according to extensive research done by Ad Age.
Oklahoma and Clemson kicked off at 4 p.m. EST, while millions of fans on the East Coast were leaving the office, and millions of West Coast fans were still in the middle of the final business day of the year. The Orange Bowl averaged 15.6 million viewers, a decline of 45% versus last year’s analogous Oregon-Florida State Rose Bowl game, which drew 28.2 million on New Year’s Day. Moreover, the Orange Bowl eked out just a 9.1 household rating, compared to the 14.8 rating a year-ago.
As fans in the east began to make their way toward various New Year’s celebrations, ESPN’s presentation of the Cotton Bowl began at 8:20 EST. By the time West Coast fans got home, the game was over. Top-ranked Alabama and Michigan State drew 18.6 million viewers and a 9.6 household rating, down 34% and 37%, respectively, compared to 28.3 million viewers and a 15.2 rating for Ohio State’s instant classic 42-35 upset of ‘Bama in the Sugar Bowl.
ESPN, to its credit, tried to solve the problem. While the terms of the cable giant’s 12-year, $7.3 billion deal with the College Football Playoff explicitly outlined a regular New Year’s Eve schedule, ESPN last February approached officials with a proposition to shift the date of the semi-finals. But the committee refused to budge. The pain is likely to continue in the future, too. The College Football Playoff appears disinterested in making any proactive changes to the schedule, which means that seven of the next 10 playoff series will be televised on New Year’s Eve. Rose Bowl officials are unlikely to ever agree to shift that game out of its time-honored Jan. 1 slot, which effectively closes the door on scheduling a regular New Year’s Day playoff series. The Rose and Sugar Bowls hosted last year’s playoff games, but that only happens once every three years.
The College Football Playoff was a sensational idea whose time had come, but it’s time for the committee to reassess the calendar.
