TV Ratings for playoffs down 36% on NYE

[Colt house75]

The final week of the season and the league championship games had better flavor than most of the bowl season, especially CFP and yesterday's blow-outs. Houston/FSU hands down the best. Even the Tulsa offensive show was better than New Years Day.

 

[Palatine]

The Rose Bowl is throwing its weight around and hurting everyone. Glad they had a dog of a game.

Eight teams is absolutely a necessity. Every other division has teams sixteen.

 

[freescooter]

Pretty weird that a made for tv event was so mihandled. Jut rotate among Ohio State Michigan Alabama Florida State USC Notre Dame and Texas every year since it's fake anyway.

 

[HartfordHank]

In essence you already have an eight team playoff. Clemson beat UNC, Alabama beat Florida and MSU beat Iowa. Only the Big 12 without a playoff kept it from being an eight game playoff. Play a tough out of conference schedule, win your division with few if any losses, then win your championship game and you are in.

Do you want a playoff where a team that just lost a championship game plays in the playoffs again?

 

[Nostical]

[QUOTE="HartfordHank, post: 1526528, member: 1065] Do you want a playoff where a team that just lost a championship game plays in the playoffs again?[/QUOTE]

Why not, if they're the better team. There are lots of reasons for losing games. If a fluke loss, absolutely.

 

[HartfordHank]

[/QUOTE] Why not, if they're the better team. There are lots of reasons for losing games. If a fluke loss, absolutely.[/QUOTE]

So if Florida had upset Alabama in the SEC Championship Game Alabama should then play in the playoffs? You lose and you are out, no fluke losses at the end of the season!

 

[Nostical]

So if Florida had upset Alabama in the SEC Championship Game Alabama should then play in the playoffs? You lose and you are out, no fluke losses at the end of the season!

You don't think Alabama would have belonged if FL had won on a bad call or last second field goal? The best teams should be playing, not just those with the better record. Shouldn't Iowa have been replaced by OSU in the Rose Bowl?
Iowa didn't play a tough schedule. And Oklahoma beat three teams with back up QB's. Stanford should have been in the playoff instead of the Sooners.

 

[BlueandOG]

Until they let some underdogs into the mix and move away from the usual suspects year over year, the audience will stagnate. The Power 5 consolidation is a move away from parity. Number one rule of American entertainment is an underdog story. It precisely why the "Cinderellas" stories carry the NCAA year over year. The NCAA is shooting itself in the head.

Yes! Rocky was a great movie even thought he didn't win the big fight against Apollo. It was his underdog story that we love.

 

[History Geek]

You don't think Alabama would have belonged if FL had won on a bad call or last second field goal? The best teams should be playing, not just those with the better record. Shouldn't Iowa have been replaced by OSU in the Rose Bowl?
Iowa didn't play a tough schedule. And Oklahoma beat three teams with back up QB's. Stanford should have been in the playoff instead of the Sooners.

I totally disagree with "the best x teams should be playing" crowd. Determining that is too subjective. I think all playoff participants should earn it on the field, not by reputation and an eye-test.

Having said that, I support an 8 team playoff as a compromise. All five P5 champs and then use subjectivity to determine the most deserving G5 champ and the two best at large. Seed and bracket them like the hoops tourney. First round at the home of the higher seed. Semi-finals at two of the New Year's Day bowls (not NYE -- we saw this year why that was not a good idea)

 

[huskymedic]

Nice wordsmithing (ESPiN)

New Year’s Six on ESPN Deliver Strong TV and Digital Audiences
http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-r...espn-deliver-strong-tv-and-digital-audiences/

 

[HartfordHank]

You don't think Alabama would have belonged if FL had won on a bad call or last second field goal? The best teams should be playing, not just those with the better record. Shouldn't Iowa have been replaced by OSU in the Rose Bowl?
Iowa didn't play a tough schedule. And Oklahoma beat three teams with back up QB's. Stanford should have been in the playoff instead of the Sooners.

If Alabama lost they lost. Doesn't matter if it is a last second field goal or a bad call! If they lost they weren't the better team!

Iowa and OSU were not part of the playoff, doesn't matter where they played. Iowa won their division and OSU didn't win theirs.

Oklahoma beat all of the teams they were scheduled to play. That is all you can do. They lost one game to Texas in a rivalry game. It would have been nice if they had to play in a Championship Game.

Stanford had two losses. You can't afford to have two losses when you are trying to get into the playoffs.

 

[JSM1970]

The 8 team would make sense this year and probably in general. OU in what seems to be an awful B12, that because the commissioner was so vocal when they were snubbed last year probably got a favorable invite. Good to see they were completely embarrassed. OU fans are a slight notch below all SEC fans in terms of annoyingness.

If Alabama lost they lost. Doesn't matter if it is a last second field goal or a bad call! If they lost they weren't the better team!

Iowa and OSU were not part of the playoff, doesn't matter where they played. Iowa won their division and OSU didn't win theirs.

Oklahoma beat all of the teams they were scheduled to play. That is all you can do. They lost one game to Texas in a rivalry game. It would have been nice if they had to play in a Championship Game.

Stanford had two losses. You can't afford to have two losses when you are trying to get into the playoffs.

 

[huskymedic]

Nice wordsmithing (ESPiN)

New Year’s Six on ESPN Deliver Strong TV and Digital Audiences
http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-r...espn-deliver-strong-tv-and-digital-audiences/

slmandel 1:15pm via TweetDeck
So other than semis dropping 35-45 percent & the Rose & Sugar suffering their worst ratings of all time, New Year's Six was a wild success.

 

[Husky1964]

The real prob is the size of the conferences It was great to go to 14 or 15 teams, now teams are suffering the consequences. NOBODY plays everybody, except in the B12. It's even worse in BB. Check Iowa's FB sked and last years Puirdue BB sked. Notre Dame is in the ACC WHO do they play?????Big money has RUINED every thing and placed us as the loser in the AAC.

 

[kemba]

[QUOTE="HartfordHank, post: 1526528, member: 1065] Do you want a playoff where a team that just lost a championship game plays in the playoffs again?

Why not, if they're the better team. There are lots of reasons for losing games. If a fluke loss, absolutely.[/QUOTE]

Because sports are decided on the field by who wins and loses.

 

[Nostical]

Because sports are decided on the field by who wins and loses.

Not any more. There's a committee who decides.

 

[Nostical]

Everyone else is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

If my innocent use of "warrior" caused an outcry among those who felt I was somehow correlating football players to defenders of our freedom, how can you disrespect the memories of so many who lost their lives on that fateful collision with an iceberg. Where's the outrage?

 

[uconnfan68]

What exactly are you suggesting?

And cinderella stories don't carry the NCAA year after year. They are a nice subplot. NCAA would rather Duke, UConn, Kentucky in the final four than Butler and VCU.

Actually, Duke, Kentucky, UNC, and one of Butler, VCU, or Kansas would be just fine for them. A--holes.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

please. Its not like CFB ratings on TV during the entire season suck. Is anyone shocked the playoff on NYE got lower ratings? Both games still had more viewers than the NCAA Basketball tournament average from last year (link: http://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/artic...ament-has-highest-average-viewership-22-years) and the regular season games get insane amounts of viewership.

Even some of the smaller bowls have had ridiculous numbers. 1.5 million people watched a meaningless game between Arkansas State and Louisiana Tech in the New Orleans Bowl. (Link: http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-football-tv-ratings/)

also what is the reason for going to 8 from a real competition standpoint? The CFP and NCAA tournament are like government- once you expand it you can't take it back. Do 68 teams really deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament for basketball? The regular season means absolutely nothing there. CFB has the craziness associated with the regular season and that only comes with the playoff being limited to 4 teams.

The CFP and ESPN will both look at this and play out the obligated games for next year's playoff on Dec 31 and then will have to figure out a way to tell the Rose Bowl committee to F off and let them play the playoff games on Jan 1 every year. Everyone involved knew this was going to happen and thats why they tried like crazy to move the date of the Rose Bowl. If the Rose Bowl doesn't budge then play the first Semi Final at 12ET, Rose Bowl at 4ET and second Semi Final at 8ET on Jan 1 every year. They'll figure it out and the ratings and popularity will be fine.

That's not my point. I was pointing out that they get their ratings from the same subsection of the population who religiously watches college football under any circumstances. They however do not do as well among casual sports fans, and collegiately unaffilitated NFL fans in large cities, primarily because of the reasons I put out there. The potential exists for college football to put up NFL-size numbers if there was an NFL-sized playoff structure. That the college football semifinals get 15-18 million viewers this year and the NFC and AFC championship games get 50 million apiece tells you all you need to know about what's being left on the table by the college football commissioners. With the level of popularity of the sport, the baked-in New Years Day holiday as a prime spot to play the games, if they finally created a structure where the casual sports fan would be interested in following either a local program, one with a good storyline, or whatever it may be because there's a shot they could actually make it into the playoffs and to the national championship, ratings would go up across the board. College football has pigeonholed itself in terms of TV ratings for years because of this ridiculous mentality that more teams having a shot to play for the championship is a bad thing or "not possible" when really it's just a ploy to protect the chosen few programs. They're content with their same audience 1/3 the size of an NFL playoff game watching every year. Hopefully they'll eventually come to the realization that an eight-team playoff that gives more teams a shot, and encourages more fans to watch, and creates more of a "win it on the field and not on a computer or in a back room" mentality among fans will significantly boost their ratings.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

If my innocent use of "warrior" caused an outcry among those who felt I was somehow correlating football players to defenders of our freedom, how can you disrespect the memories of so many who lost their lives on that fateful collision with an iceberg. Where's the outrage?

I don't know if you're directing this at me, but I never commented on that, and frankly I've not once in my life heard any offense taken by the very generic term "warrior" with respect to those who do and have served.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

You also have to wonder how many potential regular season viewers have been left on the sidelines over the years because their team lost early in the season, or got a second loss late in the year and the casual sports fan just assumes they no longer have a shot to make the playoffs (or formerly BCS title game). I mean, let's be honest, if anyone not in the top of the SEC, FSU or Clemson, Ohio State, or possibly OU/Texas loses a game in the first few weeks of the season, the perception is their chances at the playoff are basically done. We've come to the point where even Notre Dame is considered to be on the outside looking in! After their loss to Clemson, even though they were in the top four for a while, the general thought was they had little shot of staying there unless they manhandled the rest of their competition and got some lucky breaks.

A four-team playoff is an improvement over the BCS, but even still those in charge of this whole thing are leaving tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in ad revenue on the table because large segments of football fans tune the sport out because of the perception that one or more teams they're interested in are playing for nothing. And let's face it, for people who are primarily pro sports fans, they don't give two craps about the opportunity to play in a glorified exhibition game they call a bowl game.

 

[whaler11]

That's not my point. I was pointing out that they get their ratings from the same subsection of the population who religiously watches college football under any circumstances. They however do not do as well among casual sports fans, and collegiately unaffilitated NFL fans in large cities, primarily because of the reasons I put out there. The potential exists for college football to put up NFL-size numbers if there was an NFL-sized playoff structure. That the college football semifinals get 15-18 million viewers this year and the NFC and AFC championship games get 50 million apiece tells you all you need to know about what's being left on the table by the college football commissioners. With the level of popularity of the sport, the baked-in New Years Day holiday as a prime spot to play the games, if they finally created a structure where the casual sports fan would be interested in following either a local program, one with a good storyline, or whatever it may be because there's a shot they could actually make it into the playoffs and to the national championship, ratings would go up across the board. College football has pigeonholed itself in terms of TV ratings for years because of this ridiculous mentality that more teams having a shot to play for the championship is a bad thing or "not possible" when really it's just a ploy to protect the chosen few programs. They're content with their same audience 1/3 the size of an NFL playoff game watching every year. Hopefully they'll eventually come to the realization that an eight-team playoff that gives more teams a shot, and encourages more fans to watch, and creates more of a "win it on the field and not on a computer or in a back room" mentality among fans will significantly boost their ratings.

I agree with a lot of this. But there is no 'college football'. It's about 18-20 schools attempting to create every advantage for themselves while getting as much revenue as they can.

 

[Redding Husky]

People will grow tired of the playoff because it will basically be the same teams over and over. Alabama, Ohio State, Florida, LSU, Oklahoma, USC, etc. It's like the movie "Groundhog Day".

It's also like a mini-NFL, with even fewer teams able to win the championship (at least the NFL has 32 teams).

 

[BlueDogs]

People will grow tired of the playoff because it will basically be the same teams over and over. Alabama, Ohio State, Florida, LSU, Oklahoma, USC, etc. It's like the movie "Groundhog Day".

It's also like a mini-NFL, with even fewer teams able to win the championship (at least the NFL has 32 teams).

First, the P5 had too much power and has managed to suck up the bulk of media dollars with help from the main networks. The goal is to drive the bottom half of D-1 into oblivion as competitors for dollars. The system is designed to ensure recruiting and coverage stay among the elect teams. The 4 team championship reaffirms their dominance and keeps the $$ engine flowing. The system is a sham, and they will kill the golden goose as people lose interest other than a handful of schools and their alumni. The was the most boring bowl season I can remember in a long time. They need to move to a 16 team format. It will take 4 weeks. 2 weeks Dec. and 2 weeks Jan.

 

[whaler11]

People will grow tired of the playoff because it will basically be the same teams over and over. Alabama, Ohio State, Florida, LSU, Oklahoma, USC, etc. It's like the movie "Groundhog Day".

It's also like a mini-NFL, with even fewer teams able to win the championship (at least the NFL has 32 teams).

This isn't really borne out in numbers.

The NBA starts the year with a half
dozen teams that can win (in a good year) - it's never been more popular.

The EPL has 5-6 clubs that lord
over everyone - they print more money than a banana republic in hyperinflation.

ESPN doesn't show Duke, Carolina and Kentucky constantly because no one watches.

Baseball hasn't seen this kind of parity in decades and it's not exactly growing their ratings.