Playoff might move semifinals from New Year’s Eve
Executive director Hancock’s comments mark major shift
The College Football Playoff ’s attempt to change the paradigm of New Year’s Eve might be finished after only one year.
“We will be exploring whether there is a better way for the semifinals,” Bill Hancock, the Playoff ’s executive director, said Wednesday. “We will be thinking about whether New Year’s Eve is the right way to go.”
Hancock’s comments were a significant shift. Last season TV ratings for the semifinals dropped 40% from the year before, but Hancock said repeatedly in recent months that the Playoff remained committed to playing on New Year’s Eve, as it’s scheduled to do in seven of the next 10 years.
Any change wouldn’t happen before the 2018 season. The 2016 semifinals, which will be played in the Fiesta and Peach bowls, are set for New Year’s Eve, but New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday. For the 2017 season, the semifinals rotate back to the Rose and Sugar bowls, which have guaranteed New Year’s Day slots.
“The next two years, it’s not a discussion point,” Hancock said. “We have time. ... It’s a matter of (having) tremendous viewership, but can there be more people who have a chance to watch the games? We want to find the best day when the most people can watch the games.”
He added, “(It’s) absolutely a first-world problem, which I define as a good problem to have. ... Millions of people watched the semifinals on New Year’s Eve, just not as many millions as watched the year before.”
In March, the Playoff announced a tweak for the 2016 semifinals. The Fiesta and Peach bowl semifinals will be played at 3 and 7 p.m. ET Saturday, Dec. 31. Each kickoff will be an hour earlier than in the previous season. Hancock said then that the goal was to allow more fans to watch and still enjoy their New Year’s Eve festivities but insisted there were no plans to move the semifinals from Dec. 31.
During its annual meetings in April, the Playoff ’s management committee, composed of the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick, was presented in-depth data on the ratings from TV partner ESPN, which is paying $7.3 billion over 12 years to televise the games. Hancock said then that the commissioners were paying attention.
Although he said Wednesday that there hadn’t been an attitude shift, he noted for the first time that the commissioners were exploring alternatives. And he backed completely away from the hubristic idea of creating a new holiday tradition.
“The bigger priority is finding a date when the most people can watch the games,” he said.