Why is the College Football Playoff losing viewers?

After drawing in 34.15 million viewers when it debuted in 2014, the most recent College Football National Championship game attracted nearly 10 million fewer fans and earned its lowest rating ever.

According to Sports Media Watch, the 2018/19 version of the CFP bracket performed just marginally better (in viewership) than the format’s worst outcome in 2016.

CFP Championship Game

The same basic trend applies for the two Semi-Final Games.

Early (mid-afternoon) Semi-Final

Late (Primetime) Semi-Final

The semi-final that enjoyed the biggest draw was Ohio State-Alabama’s meeting during the inaugural season. It did so well that it out-performed, in viewership, three of the five championship games. The exceptions came in 2014 (the single-best draw in the format’s five-season run) and 2017 (the scheme’s second-highest draw).

The semi-final that performed the poorest all time was the 2015 matchup between Clemson and Oklahoma. The next lowest outcome came via this past season’s Clemson/Notre Dame game, which managed just slightly better results.

To put that into perspective, Clemson-Notre Dame – a contest where the winner would ascend directly to the national championship game – drew fewer viewers than last season’s SEC title game between Alabama and Georgia, which had 17.5 million tune in.

The only direct link between the two most successful years for the semi-finals is the date. The spikes in viewership in 2014 and 2017 came when the games were played on January 1. That as opposed to the lean years, when the games were played on December 31 (2015 and 2016) and December 29 (2018).

Why are the numbers slipping, or, at the very least, why are they not holding steady?

The first and most obvious factor is that the newness of the four-team format wore off rapidly. Though viewership may well be affected by the calendar date, logically, this can’t explain the entire trend. Sports enthusiasts will find a way to watch something when it’s desirable enough. Think about how many times you’ve been to a wedding, or a Christmas party, or whatever, that coincides with a big game. Inevitably, there’s going to be a throng of people shoved around one small screen desperately trying to stay updated – despite the relational consequences.

The most obvious way to boost ratings is to expand the playoff to eight teams. Not only would this provide a dose of “newness” it would increase the integrity of the title itself. Until each Power 5 conference champion has a clear path to the bracket, there will always be questions.

In 2014 – how would Baylor (11-1) and TCU (11-1) have fared in a bracket that also featured one-loss teams in Alabama, Oregon, and Ohio State? In 2015, Pac-12 champion Stanford got left behind. In 2016, Penn State and Oklahoma didn’t make the bracket despite winning their respective conferences. In 2017 – when two SEC teams ascended to the playoff – Ohio State and USC both got snubbed. Last season, Notre Dame’s inclusion meant that the Big Ten (again, the Buckeyes) and Pac-12 (Washington) were excluded for a second straight season.

It’s a reason not to watch the CFP package – because your conference isn’t represented. Because you know, no matter how much better it is than the BCS, that it’s not a legitimate playoff scheme for a 130-team league.

What may also help is an attempt to keep college football – especially meaningful college football – where it belongs, on Saturdays.

The semi-finals and championship should be scheduled precisely where the big games are during the regular season – Saturday in the mid-afternoon (think CBS’ SEC package) and primetime (think ABC’s big game of the week).

When does the NFL always host the Super Bowl? On Monday night during primetime? No. The pro’s have an early evening start on Sunday – also the same day that they schedule the meat of their regular-season games.

Saturday’s are made for college football and on Sunday’s, we switch gears to the NFL.

How many more viewers would be drawn to Saturday evening championship football? The Pac-12 title game – a Friday night affair – drew 4.05 million viewers this past season, while the Big Ten – airing 24 hours later on Saturday night – pulled in 8.66 million. Neither matchup was especially compelling (Washington vs. Utah and Ohio State vs. Northwestern), but only one doubled up on viewership.

The most obvious roadblock preventing an all-Saturday playoff is the NFL, which runs its own postseason on Saturdays and Sundays during the month of January. A potential fix would be to move the entire collegiate playoff schedule up, eliminating the long lead-up top teams enjoy/suffer through before their first game.

Instead of having Alabama wait from Sat. Dec. 1 (the date of last season’s SEC title game) until Saturday, Dec. 29 (the date of the semi-final vs. Oklahoma), why not move up the first game of the Playoff to Saturday, Dec. 22?

In an eight-team scheme, the first round would be played on the third Saturday in December, the second round on the final Saturday of the month. and then the championship would still be slated for the second Saturday in January.

The “other” bowls would fill in around the non-Playoff dates.

The format would stay that way eternally – so there would be no confusion, one season flowing naturally into the next. It’s precisely the same approach to the Super Bowl falling on the first Sunday in February.

Nobody forgets when that is. Don’t think so? It drew 98.19 million viewers last season, just shy of four times more than the CFP Championship game did.