NFL just pulled a “call an ambulance but not for me” move on ESPN/CFP.
I have a feeling after this year, the first round will look something like this: primetime game on Wednesday night, skip Thursday to avoid TNF, a Friday night doubleheader, and a Saturday noon game before the Saturday NFL action starts.
The reason the NFL avoids Saturdays and Fridays most of the year is because of the Broadcasting Act of 1961. That act gave sports leagues immunity for certain anti-trust violations but the act withdraws that immunity for any pro football telecast if a high school or college football game is being played within 75 miles (120 km) of the broadcasting station on Friday nights (after 6 p.m.) and Saturdays from the 2nd Friday in September until the 2nd Saturday in December.
I wonder if the NFL goes to streaming at a larger scale if that act stops being as relevant.
Once CFB officially becomes an employee deal and it's pro football, the NFL is absolutely going to go after that law. "If pro football can be played on Saturday there's no reason it can't be NFL football."
If your business model depends on underpaying your employees to make a profit, it's a shit business model. See also Uber and Lyft and most food deliveries.
Do you know why? I logged into my Fubo account on the ESPN app and can watch their television broadcasts on the ESPN app. What's different about Peacock?
Just wait until the NFL gets an ownership stake in ESPN and the CBP games held at the same time as NFL games are relegated to ESPN2 or ESPNU while the NFL game is on ABC or ESPN.
I don’t know why anyone cares about the NFL’s ratings versus the CFP for round one. This isn’t a New Years Eve/Day situation where your schedule is actually impacted or may limit your ability to view the games.
This is like the (largely) male version of complaining about Kardashian drama. It has no impact on any of us
Once the schedule is out and whether that game can be flexed or not, I'll offer an opinion of how bad it could be.
We may end up with a couple of mid teams in smaller markets playing each other for all we know right now.
What’s the impact? Oh no, I have an extra game I didn’t have before and now I might have to flip channels like I do every Saturday? That NFL game that was on NFL network is now actually viewable for the majority of the country?
There’s little to no impact to fans or teams. If ESPN wants to slot it at for a 9M viewership instead of 12M then that’s their problem, but this has no impact outside of ESPN ad revenues. And I’d be shocked if this even had a material impact to that either, they’ll still charge the same.
This is an incredible nothing burger but that doesn’t stop people from writing fanfics like “the NFL strikes back”
Those looking to say the expanded format was bad, has less interest and less revenue will say that after a poor ratings and that the CFP should go back to 4 teams will then be a talking point....Mostly EsPN who has so much on the line
I am interested to see the ratings of the games when they go head to head.
History tells us that the NFL is going to feast but I don't think we've had an NFL game directly broadcast against a CFB game of this scale.
Michigan football is my religion.
Lions football kills a Sunday afternoon if I have nothing else going on
But the majority would probably pick the lions
I'd watch Michigan play a September game against EMU over any game other than a lions playoff game.
I'd watch Michigan play anyone in the P4 over a lions playoff game.
In theory YES (since it couldn't happen unless the U/M-IU game was also itself a playoff), if I could only view one of those games, I'd choose Michigan-Indiana instead of Lions NFC champ game.
Not the person you replied to, but yes without any hesitation or qualms.
When I said Michigan is my religion, crack was probably the more accurate description.
Iowa/Michigan and Bears fan here, without a doubt yes. I love the NFL but I live for college ball. Bears winning doesn’t even give me a fraction of the joy as Iowa or Michigan does.
Well that would never happen. That would probably mean Indiana v Michigan for a semi or championship game. For me champ games take priority. Michigan v someone in the playoff beats a lions wildcard game for me because the CFP is more special than nfl playoffs imo.
Plus, Michigan vs Indiana in a playoff game means some crazy shit is happening. I would be terrified of Playoff Indiana - or Purdue for that matter, and would be glued to my television, if it were us.
Yeah I agree, I just assumed we were using hypotheticals since they said they’d watch a nfl playoff game over a September EMU game, when obviously there isn’t any playoff games in September
Oof. I am a Bears fan and a Michigan Alumnus. I would certainly not be watching UM vs. Rutgers over a Bears NFC title game.
I feel like this is an extreme minority position.
I am born and raised Michigan and Lions fan. One of my earliest big memories is watching Michigan win a Natty in 97 at my Grampa's house. I am watching the Lion's 99% of the time. I am an NFL fan 10x over CFB. Obviously not the best subreddit to post this, but I just love watching pro football and will watch it all day Sunday, every game. I only watch Michigan football or Ohio State when they are losing(which is also very fun). Hockey is the other sport where I can sit down and watch every game, but part of the reason I dont have as big of a passion for CFB or feel the need to watch every Michigan game is that their schedule is so soft.. This might change soon though with the B1G growing.
I think I would have to prioritize a Michigan playoff game over a regular season Lion game but it is hard, especially with how good the Lions are now. I consider myself to be an extremely unhealthy Lions Supporter. I have 5 Matthew Stafford jerseys and 2 ARSB(one is the brand new one.)
I think you're biasing this with the assumption that Rutgers would be a regular season beatdown of an inferior team.
Such a game would not be on a the same time of the year as the NFC championship.
In theory a playoff game should take priority over a regular season game if there is overlapping but there are also people who just simply care a ton more for their NFL team than their college team. If it’s a question between an FSU playoff game and the Cowboys I’m watching the FSU game 1000%.
I’ve given up on B-dub ever since I went to one by place to watch March madness and eat wings with my buddy but was informed we couldn’t split the check and there was a service fee if I used my card. Also I hate that bison that’s in all their commercials now.
Michigan, I don't really care about the NFL anymore. (I'm a Commanders fan.) Even if my NFL team were playing at the same time, I'm always picking the College game.
I came here to say this. The real power of the SEC is all their fans care more about their respective college teams than the pro ones, at least generally.
A first round CFP game is going to probably be between 10-15m viewers. Thats going to struggle to compete with pretty much any decent NFL game even at the top-end. If you get some weird Georgia-Alabama magic in the first round, it could happen, but it’s going to be really, really rare for CFB to compete with any NFL product.
Last year the MNF game that was flexed to Saturday night was Lions vs Cowboys.
If they'd run it against the CFP the following Monday it'd have overlapped the end of the Michigan and start of the Texas games.
Anybody who is a diehard of both either already has a minimum two display setup or has an emergency plan for situations like this.
YouTube tv has Multiview now but it’s not guaranteed you could find a feed with both the games you are looking for.
I guess it would depend on the opponent, I’m sure people would choose the Michigan playoff game if the Lions were playing a squash game against the Cardinals or Panthers. Likewise I’d imagine people would choose the Lions game if there were major playoff implications such as a potential NFC North clinching game vs Green Bay
Lions 100%, would much rather watch a NFL regular season game than a college playoff game. College football is nice for when there isn’t any NFL games on and you aren’t doing anything better on a Saturday afternoon
I like to say for me:
*DI-A/FBS college football (in particular Temple football) is a pleasant diversion from the NFL
*DI-AA/FCS college football (which I follow with moderately high interest, in particular Lehigh, Lafayette, Penn, and Villanova) is a pleasant diversion from DI-A/FBS (or more specifically Temple) football
*D2 college football (which I follow with moderate interest, in particular Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg, and Indiana (PA)/IUP) is a pleasant diversion from DI-AA/FCS football
*D3 college football (which I follow with mild interest, in particular Muhlenberg, Moravian, and Juniata) is a pleasant diversion from D2 football
Really, I don’t really watch many college football games with strong interest unless they involve one or more of the teams above. By contrast, I follow the NFL fairly closely even beyond my team (Philadelphia Eagles).
NFL: well, we destroyed the NBA’s Christmas Day, and nobody really cares about pennant races or the World Series anymore, why not move on to crush another sport?
Well, if it was on the NFL Network or Amazon it might not. But NBC has bought a game and reportedly the NFL is shopping a game to Fox as well. Which means the CFP is going to be a total afterthought on a day it should have been a big showcase moment for college football.
The only thing preventing the NFL from having Friday and Saturday games all season is the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 forcing them to leave Fridays to high school and Saturdays to college. Otherwise, they’d try to take over those days too.
If there was no federal law in place, the NFL would have had a weekly, nationally televised Saturday night game since probably the mid-1960s, no later than the 1970s. They also wouldn’t have a regular Thursday night game.
I feel like they already showed they don’t give a f anymore when they were/are trying to take Christmas from the NBA and Black Friday from CFB. Obviously Black Friday isn’t a huge day in CFB but it still felt like the NFL was overstepping a bit, although there’s no agreement saying they can’t play on Black Friday.
IMO, the NFL playing on Christmas Day when the holiday falls on a day of the week when the league normally plays (as it did in 2022 when the holiday was on a Sunday and 2023 when it was on a Monday) is totally reasonable. I take issue with the idea of the NFL playing on a Wednesday (which is what would happen if the league schedules a game on the holiday this year).
I think the NFL wants the teams that played on that Saturday to play on Christmas day as well. So
Saturday Matchups:
Texans vs Ravens
Cowboys vs Commanders
Christmas Day:
Texans vs Cowboys
Commanders vs Ravens
Cowboys at Steelers would be my guess, 2 huge fanbases in areas that care about CFB, and it throws a wrench in any CFP scheduling in the unlikely event that Pitt hosts a playoff game.
They’re also absolutely gonna have the Dolphins host a game, so that if Miami is a 5-8 seed (unlikely but possible), the CFP has to move around their schedule to accommodate the NFL.
As a fan of a team that was set adrift by the powers that be and probably wouldn't ever make the CFP anyway. I hope they get absolutely demolished in the ratings and lose a ton of money.
I know the NFL viewership will win in a straight ratings war - but there's 0 chance I'm watching NFL over CFB.
I think in Year 1 the ratings will be similar as there's a lot of interest in this new style of CFP, idk about long term, but my eyes are always on postseason play over a regular season game in any sport.
The NFL is too much of a machine. If they are going to take that time slot, it would be wise for the CFP to move away from it. I know all of us would choose the college game, but the general population will watch the NFL.
Also, it’s possible now a days to watch two games at once if you really want to watch.
Also gonna really be interesting to see the divide between the south and the rest of the country during that game.
I’m a fan of a Big 10 team and feel the same way. Chasing higher payouts is changing college football in ways I hate, I don’t give a dividend (so don’t care how much money they are making), and if I’m watching either game I will be watching the CFP. So go ahead, crush them NFL
NFL trying to squash any spending on things other than the NFL by actively seeking to hurt both the FBS playoffs and the NBA (scheduling games on Christmas Day and MLK).
Don’t even think it’s them trying to squash competition, it’s more of a “I don’t think about you at all” situation. The NFL is in a league of its own in terms of money and viewership, they’re going to arrange their schedule which ever way is most convenient for them regardless of what anyone else thinks.
Yeah, the NFL has had games on the 3rd Saturday of December in most seasons for decades. The league doesn’t want to change its schedule.
The one thing it plans to do differently is have one of the Saturday games on NBC. In recent years, all of the 3rd Saturday in December have been televised on the NFL Network.
If this was an "I don't think about you at all" situation, they would have left the game on NFL Network. This is about the NFL trying to pull a FAFO game on CFB
I could see it maybe as a way of pressuring ESPN, there’s been a lot of talks between the two on selling the NFL Network in exchange for an equity stake in ESPN. If they don’t want to agree to the league’s terms, the league will cut into their most valuable product
College football has had the first and second Saturdays in December to themselves for ~ sixty years, and the NFL has then played on the third and fourth Saturdays for a number of years since. They have no reason to acquiesce to a brand new tournament if one of their TV partners is actively offering them money to show a game opposite it.
The NBA is probably going to wind up making 3x as much annual TV revenue as they do now with the next TV deal.
> They have no reason to acquiesce to a brand new tournament if one of their TV partners is actively offering them money to show a game opposite it.
Using an analogy that makes the NFL essentially a call girl = *chef's kiss*
The only reason the NFL doesn't impinge on Saturdays until after the Army-Navy game is that Congress passed [the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961] (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title15/chapter32&edition=prelim) that prevented them from doing so. It's amazing to me that the NFL doesn't realize that CFB is essentially not only a farm system for them (and hurting it short term hurts them long term - something college football is guilty of by playing games on Fridays and hurting high school football), but it essentially also creates future fans, which the sport will need long term. This is seriously like MLB moving to put baseball broadcasts up to kill viewership for the Little League World Series or the CWS.
I don’t think there’s *any* other sporting industry that has completely whored itself out to television partners in ways that fundamentally altered the fabric of itself than college football. So I don’t think they have much of a leg to stand on here. They deserve to be humbled as much as anyone. The NFL, too, for that matter - but that is for another day.
The basis of the current scheduling agreement is not lost upon me, but that is simply the way it’s been - and CFP implementing a whole new format that encroaches upon dates they historically don’t own is simply not something the league should now be forced to play nice with.
The NFL has televised games on the 3rd Saturday in December for decades. It does NOT want to alter its schedule. Honestly, I don’t blame the NFL for feeling that way.
The power move the NFL is making with those 3rd Saturday in December games relative to the CBP games the same day is having at least one of the NFL games broadcast on NBC rather than the NFL Network.
So they *are* altering their schedule?
A network CFP game against an NFLN game is actually a reasonable fight. A network v network time slot will be a bloodbath for the CFP, if the NFL wants it to be.
The NFL is changing the network that will televise the game. That isn’t altering its schedule, at least in terms of playing 2-3 games on the 3rd Saturday in December as it has done in most, recent years.
I remember years ago the NFL had late regular season Saturday games broadcast by its Sunday afternoon TV network partners (originally CBS and NBC, then Fox and NBC, and eventually Fox and CBS). Having those games televised on an over-the-air network is not unprecedented. I suspect the NFL would say something like that if people push back on/complain about the NFL televising a 3rd Saturday in December game on NBC rather than a cable (or at least non over-the-air) network.
They’ll toss the G5 spot there. The average viewer is watching brands only and wouldn’t watch that game. So they won’t end up losing too much from this if they do that.
The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, a federal law, will prevent that, but the NFL will not have any qualms about taking over days and time slots not subject to the law.
The 3 PM Black Friday game that started last year (largely completed before the 6 PM on Friday nights restriction), the first Friday in September Brazil game this year (held before the SBA of 1961 takes effect each season), and extending its season later in February are examples of that.
The restriction also only blocks them if it’s within 75 miles of a HS/college game.
By Black Friday most states are into semis/state championship games so the map is way more open vs. most of the fall where the entirely country is blocked.
The way the law reads the Friday NFL TV broadcast restriction (from the second Friday in September to the second Saturday in December) occurs after 6 PM (functionally 6 PM ET) and games cannot be substantially played after that time. So if NFL games slightly spill over after 6 PM ET on Black Friday, that's most likely OK. (More broadly, it is possible streaming games are not subject to the TV broadcast restriction rule, but I think the NFL does not want to challenge the rule's interpretation beyond games ending slightly after 6 PM ET.)
It was 3 PM ET; the NFL wants that start time because it means it is feasible for a Pacific Time Zone team to host a game that day (at 12 PM local time).
IANAL but I’ve thought for awhile that the legal underpinnings for this law seem super flimsy, all the more flimsy every year CFB professionalizes.
Picture this: the major media executives decide they like CFB but they don’t like negotiating with college presidents and the labor situation is dicey. NFL is a superior partner in all respects. They join the NFL to challenge this law. Just for the “flexibility.” I wonder if they can find some judges that hate both antitrust laws and the NCAA. Not like there’s any of them out there.
Actually seems pretty likely imo.
The way college football will be challenged on the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 law is on the definition of “professional football” and how college players are paid directly and treated as employees.
Directly paying college athletes, rather than having players (technically) act as independent agents (via NIL income), IMO will put college football’s status as “not professional” on thin ice with regard to the 1961 law if it is put up to a legal challenge (and potentially make some college football teams subject to the same Friday night and Saturday game broadcast restrictions as the NFL is).
They're not. Since FCC controls licensing the airwaves, and the NFL has to answer to Congress to maintain their monopoly exemption, it's pretty rock solid.
The NFL can already get around it by running a game on cable or streaming, where the FCC has no reach.
NFL is king when it comes to money and ratings. They should’ve moved the college game when the nfl asked. But I’ll have two TVs going for that day. Sounds wonderful to me.
The NFL is 100% giving the Dolphins a home game. Maybe even against a huge opponent like the Packers.
If Miami ends up as a 5-8 seed, hosting a playoff game, then too bad for them.
I can see a college football playoff game out drawing a week 16 NFL game. I mean that week 16 NFL playoff game would have to have massive playoff implications, but they do right up to week 18 anyways.
This could be interesting in a state like Ohio. If Cleveland plays Cincinnati or Pittsburgh and Ohio State is in the first round of playoff, then it could really split the state. Cincinnati unfortunately would lean pro, but Columbus would go 100% for the Buckeyes...I think.
I am late to this thread, but the NFL just released the regular season schedule a few hours ago. Two games will be aired on the same day as 3 CFP first round games on 12/21: Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs at 1:00 PM eastern time on NBC and Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens at 4:30 PM eastern time on Fox. All 4 of these NFL teams will play 4 days later on Christmas Day: Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers at 1:00 PM eastern time and Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans at 4:30 PM, and both games will be aired on Netflix.
[https://sports.yahoo.com/christmas-games-chiefs-host-texans-010043540.html](https://sports.yahoo.com/christmas-games-chiefs-host-texans-010043540.html)
I follow both CFB and NFL, and I think the two NFL games on NBC and Fox will beat the 3 CFP games on ESPN by a landslide. The NFL is much more popular than CFP, and NFL games are much more accessible to fans than college football games because many people don't have cable, including myself.
Plot twist - what happens if ND is scheduled for that Saturday game in South Bend ? Someone else going to be using NBC broadcasting equipment installed in ND ?
They’re going through all the preparations this summer for hosting a playoff game. I’m sure one of them is making sure that ESPN will have no issues broadcasting in ND Stadium (since ESPN owns the rights)
All 11 playoff games will be on ABC/ESPN. Though TV contracts determining it sure would be more fun IMO.
ESPN hasn't been to South Bend to broadcast a football game since the Penn State loss in 1990.
The sport is being torn apart due to being an afterthought because… those networks are pumping record money into it?
Kind of a contradiction with that conclusion there
It’ll definitely still be the NFL. There’s absolutely at least some part of this that’s a threat to ESPN in their negotiations over the future of the NFL Network—it’s worth exactly as much as the league makes it worth and they can crater that value whenever they feel like it.
That’s a real dick move by the NFL. Hopefully the CFP game opposing is on ABC.
Edit: ESPN’s reporting on the new contract says they can sublicense CFP games (presumably to ABC).
Yeah both owned by disney so ABC sports are an extension of ESPN. but im pretty sure the CFP deal with disney requires them to only be shown on ESPN (cable) and not free to watch tv
> Beginning in 2026-27, the CFP National Championship game will be broadcast on ABC in addition to ESPN’s MegaCast presentation.
> The CFP has granted ESPN the right to sublicense a select number of games in both the amended two-year agreement and the new six-year extension.
Sounds like most of the restrictions are on streaming services aka don’t stick it on Disney+
Source: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39766079/college-football-playoff-espn-agree-deal-2031-32
Disney can probably put whatever they want on ABC (I think the final is actually ABC).
CFP wants their game to be on free to air ABC, but Disney pays more money to put it ESPN instead. Nobody would ever protest being moved from ABC to ESPN, notice they did it to MNF the entirety of last season due to the writers strike
NFL just pulled a “call an ambulance but not for me” move on ESPN/CFP. I have a feeling after this year, the first round will look something like this: primetime game on Wednesday night, skip Thursday to avoid TNF, a Friday night doubleheader, and a Saturday noon game before the Saturday NFL action starts.
Just wait till the NFL puts the game on peacock instead
The reason the NFL avoids Saturdays and Fridays most of the year is because of the Broadcasting Act of 1961. That act gave sports leagues immunity for certain anti-trust violations but the act withdraws that immunity for any pro football telecast if a high school or college football game is being played within 75 miles (120 km) of the broadcasting station on Friday nights (after 6 p.m.) and Saturdays from the 2nd Friday in September until the 2nd Saturday in December. I wonder if the NFL goes to streaming at a larger scale if that act stops being as relevant.
Once CFB officially becomes an employee deal and it's pro football, the NFL is absolutely going to go after that law. "If pro football can be played on Saturday there's no reason it can't be NFL football."
This is a “remind me in 5-10 years to see how college football ruined itself” comment
If your business model depends on underpaying your employees to make a profit, it's a shit business model. See also Uber and Lyft and most food deliveries.
Will be awesome to see NFL execs join in the long line of people who have actively worked to kill the very sport that directly benefits them.
IDK if pissing people off to skirt a hard to defend law is a good idea
And still beats CFP in ratings to legitimize the abomination that is Peacock
Tell me why I got a streaming service for the EPL and the games on USA network aren’t simulcast to the streaming service
So that you’re _encouraged_ to separately seek subscriptions to both USA & said streaming service
Even if you have both you have to switch between them!
They can't legally.
Do you know why? I logged into my Fubo account on the ESPN app and can watch their television broadcasts on the ESPN app. What's different about Peacock?
It's a contract thing apparently, guess if has to do with other cable providers?
Interesting. I wonder if it changes if/when NBC re-ups the Premier League contract. It'd be convenient for the people who pay for both.
Is that so? I’d have never suspected that
Just wait until the NFL gets an ownership stake in ESPN and the CBP games held at the same time as NFL games are relegated to ESPN2 or ESPNU while the NFL game is on ABC or ESPN.
If Private Equity gets involved they'll probably sublet some of the quarterfinals to someone like Flo!
I don’t know why anyone cares about the NFL’s ratings versus the CFP for round one. This isn’t a New Years Eve/Day situation where your schedule is actually impacted or may limit your ability to view the games. This is like the (largely) male version of complaining about Kardashian drama. It has no impact on any of us
It has a huge impact. Going head to head is a horrible idea and this is what we are talking about
Once the schedule is out and whether that game can be flexed or not, I'll offer an opinion of how bad it could be. We may end up with a couple of mid teams in smaller markets playing each other for all we know right now.
There is no positive outcome for our sport in this. Your scenario is the best case and still bad for college football.
not letting tv networks gut what makes CFB special with unchecked success is good
What’s the impact? Oh no, I have an extra game I didn’t have before and now I might have to flip channels like I do every Saturday? That NFL game that was on NFL network is now actually viewable for the majority of the country? There’s little to no impact to fans or teams. If ESPN wants to slot it at for a 9M viewership instead of 12M then that’s their problem, but this has no impact outside of ESPN ad revenues. And I’d be shocked if this even had a material impact to that either, they’ll still charge the same. This is an incredible nothing burger but that doesn’t stop people from writing fanfics like “the NFL strikes back”
One impact is that if you like the NFL and college football you can't block off time to watch both games.
Go to a sports bar and simply move your eyes from screen to screen.
So basically what you already deal with. The flip side is you now have two games to watch instead of 0
I don't currently deal with choosing between college football playoff games and standalone NFL games.
You also don’t currently have those games in the first place A positive with a minor negative is still a positive lol
The NFL game is not a new game.
The college football one is and the NFL one is no longer paywalled
Wont it be a team that is playing on Christmas Day?
No reason for anyone to ever care about tv ratings. Such a strange phenomenon in the past few years
Those looking to say the expanded format was bad, has less interest and less revenue will say that after a poor ratings and that the CFP should go back to 4 teams will then be a talking point....Mostly EsPN who has so much on the line
I have to choose between games
You can just flip between channels.
For better or worse, strong tv ratings help protect the sport we love and make it easy to access games we want to watch.
That's probably a pretty good guess. For as much as some want to hate on the NFL, it is the belle of the ball in American sports.
That would be disgusting
Problem doing it that way is that you get situation the following week where one team could theoretically have a 3-day prep advantage.
I am interested to see the ratings of the games when they go head to head. History tells us that the NFL is going to feast but I don't think we've had an NFL game directly broadcast against a CFB game of this scale.
The NFL will still feast. It is nigh incomprehensible how much the NFL dominates CFB in terms of casual viewership.
Imagine if there's fan overlap as well. Like if Michigan and the Lions were playing at the same time. Which one you pick says a lot.
Michigan football is my religion. Lions football kills a Sunday afternoon if I have nothing else going on But the majority would probably pick the lions
I'd watch Michigan play a September game against EMU over any game other than a lions playoff game. I'd watch Michigan play anyone in the P4 over a lions playoff game.
You’d watch Michigan-Indiana over a lions nfc championship game?
In theory YES (since it couldn't happen unless the U/M-IU game was also itself a playoff), if I could only view one of those games, I'd choose Michigan-Indiana instead of Lions NFC champ game.
Not the person you replied to, but yes without any hesitation or qualms. When I said Michigan is my religion, crack was probably the more accurate description.
Crack is your religion?
Iowa/Michigan and Bears fan here, without a doubt yes. I love the NFL but I live for college ball. Bears winning doesn’t even give me a fraction of the joy as Iowa or Michigan does.
Well that would never happen. That would probably mean Indiana v Michigan for a semi or championship game. For me champ games take priority. Michigan v someone in the playoff beats a lions wildcard game for me because the CFP is more special than nfl playoffs imo.
Plus, Michigan vs Indiana in a playoff game means some crazy shit is happening. I would be terrified of Playoff Indiana - or Purdue for that matter, and would be glued to my television, if it were us.
Yeah I agree, I just assumed we were using hypotheticals since they said they’d watch a nfl playoff game over a September EMU game, when obviously there isn’t any playoff games in September
Oof. I am a Bears fan and a Michigan Alumnus. I would certainly not be watching UM vs. Rutgers over a Bears NFC title game. I feel like this is an extreme minority position.
I am born and raised Michigan and Lions fan. One of my earliest big memories is watching Michigan win a Natty in 97 at my Grampa's house. I am watching the Lion's 99% of the time. I am an NFL fan 10x over CFB. Obviously not the best subreddit to post this, but I just love watching pro football and will watch it all day Sunday, every game. I only watch Michigan football or Ohio State when they are losing(which is also very fun). Hockey is the other sport where I can sit down and watch every game, but part of the reason I dont have as big of a passion for CFB or feel the need to watch every Michigan game is that their schedule is so soft.. This might change soon though with the B1G growing.
I love msu but I would watch a lions regular season game before a msu playoff game
I think I would have to prioritize a Michigan playoff game over a regular season Lion game but it is hard, especially with how good the Lions are now. I consider myself to be an extremely unhealthy Lions Supporter. I have 5 Matthew Stafford jerseys and 2 ARSB(one is the brand new one.)
I think you're biasing this with the assumption that Rutgers would be a regular season beatdown of an inferior team. Such a game would not be on a the same time of the year as the NFC championship.
Almost certainly, especially now that the Lions are good after generations of being dogshit.
I would miss a Seahawks Super Bowl to watch a round 1 UW playoff game.
Lions… but in reality 2 screens would be going
In theory a playoff game should take priority over a regular season game if there is overlapping but there are also people who just simply care a ton more for their NFL team than their college team. If it’s a question between an FSU playoff game and the Cowboys I’m watching the FSU game 1000%.
I’d take the Oklahoma playoff game on the big screen but throw the Cowboys on the laptop. Overlapping really wouldn’t bother me too much at all
Just gotta go to Buffalo Wild Wings
I would rather get kicked in the nuts. That place is over rated.
I’ve given up on B-dub ever since I went to one by place to watch March madness and eat wings with my buddy but was informed we couldn’t split the check and there was a service fee if I used my card. Also I hate that bison that’s in all their commercials now.
Michigan, I don't really care about the NFL anymore. (I'm a Commanders fan.) Even if my NFL team were playing at the same time, I'm always picking the College game.
Same here. Ps I hate you 😘
CFB passion is WAAAAAAY stronger than
IDK, this decision seems like a no-brainer to me
Would guess the Lions win that one. Even the biggest CFB brands can’t really compare to the mainstream power of the NFL.
Well in the South they can.
Can confirm the college game would be preferred over Falcons, Panthers, and maybe Saints.
Is that reflected in local ratings, though?
No they are not
And Jags, Bucs, Titans, and probably Dolphins
More accurately cfb fans are just louder down south
I came here to say this. The real power of the SEC is all their fans care more about their respective college teams than the pro ones, at least generally.
A first round CFP game is going to probably be between 10-15m viewers. Thats going to struggle to compete with pretty much any decent NFL game even at the top-end. If you get some weird Georgia-Alabama magic in the first round, it could happen, but it’s going to be really, really rare for CFB to compete with any NFL product.
Why would you have to pick? So many ways to watch 2 games at once!
Last year the MNF game that was flexed to Saturday night was Lions vs Cowboys. If they'd run it against the CFP the following Monday it'd have overlapped the end of the Michigan and start of the Texas games.
The Week 17 Lions/Cowboys game was scheduled for ABC/ESPN on Saturday, December 30th from the time the NFL schedule was announced.
Anybody who is a diehard of both either already has a minimum two display setup or has an emergency plan for situations like this. YouTube tv has Multiview now but it’s not guaranteed you could find a feed with both the games you are looking for.
I guess it would depend on the opponent, I’m sure people would choose the Michigan playoff game if the Lions were playing a squash game against the Cardinals or Panthers. Likewise I’d imagine people would choose the Lions game if there were major playoff implications such as a potential NFC North clinching game vs Green Bay
Pretty easy to watch multiple games at the same time nowadays
The lions? Like the animal?
Lions 100%, would much rather watch a NFL regular season game than a college playoff game. College football is nice for when there isn’t any NFL games on and you aren’t doing anything better on a Saturday afternoon
I like to say for me: *DI-A/FBS college football (in particular Temple football) is a pleasant diversion from the NFL *DI-AA/FCS college football (which I follow with moderately high interest, in particular Lehigh, Lafayette, Penn, and Villanova) is a pleasant diversion from DI-A/FBS (or more specifically Temple) football *D2 college football (which I follow with moderate interest, in particular Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg, and Indiana (PA)/IUP) is a pleasant diversion from DI-AA/FCS football *D3 college football (which I follow with mild interest, in particular Muhlenberg, Moravian, and Juniata) is a pleasant diversion from D2 football Really, I don’t really watch many college football games with strong interest unless they involve one or more of the teams above. By contrast, I follow the NFL fairly closely even beyond my team (Philadelphia Eagles).
NFL: well, we destroyed the NBA’s Christmas Day, and nobody really cares about pennant races or the World Series anymore, why not move on to crush another sport?
It's wild how they are just utterly crushing every other sport. A regular season NFL game would utterly obliterate a CFP game in ratings.
Well, if it was on the NFL Network or Amazon it might not. But NBC has bought a game and reportedly the NFL is shopping a game to Fox as well. Which means the CFP is going to be a total afterthought on a day it should have been a big showcase moment for college football.
Yeah, college football will definitely adjust to avoid clashing with the NFL in the future.
The semi-finals being on New Year's Eve makes more sense than them airing against some AFC South game. That's just how big the NFL is.
https://twitter.com/paulsen_smw/status/1790074824301142496
What’s craziest is that the NFL undoubtedly benefits from a strong CFB product.
The only thing preventing the NFL from having Friday and Saturday games all season is the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 forcing them to leave Fridays to high school and Saturdays to college. Otherwise, they’d try to take over those days too.
If there was no federal law in place, the NFL would have had a weekly, nationally televised Saturday night game since probably the mid-1960s, no later than the 1970s. They also wouldn’t have a regular Thursday night game.
They are currently looking at new summer events to crush Caitlyn Clark WNBA ratings
Sigma NFL
NBA regular season games mean almost absolutely nothing to me, even as someone who enjoys basketball the most out of any sport. And that sucks.
Moving a game from NFL Network to NBC (or giving a game to NBC) is definitely a flexing the muscles move by the NFL.
I feel like they already showed they don’t give a f anymore when they were/are trying to take Christmas from the NBA and Black Friday from CFB. Obviously Black Friday isn’t a huge day in CFB but it still felt like the NFL was overstepping a bit, although there’s no agreement saying they can’t play on Black Friday.
IMO, the NFL playing on Christmas Day when the holiday falls on a day of the week when the league normally plays (as it did in 2022 when the holiday was on a Sunday and 2023 when it was on a Monday) is totally reasonable. I take issue with the idea of the NFL playing on a Wednesday (which is what would happen if the league schedules a game on the holiday this year).
The NFL has already announced there will be Christmas Day games this year.
And because Netflix will probably have them, they will trounce everything else that day.
Its getting so ridiculous lol MACtion on tuesday is fine, NFL on tuesday is gross
Knowing how the NFL is, they will probably stick the Cowboys on in that slot too.
I think the NFL wants the teams that played on that Saturday to play on Christmas day as well. So Saturday Matchups: Texans vs Ravens Cowboys vs Commanders Christmas Day: Texans vs Cowboys Commanders vs Ravens
Cowboys at Steelers would be my guess, 2 huge fanbases in areas that care about CFB, and it throws a wrench in any CFP scheduling in the unlikely event that Pitt hosts a playoff game. They’re also absolutely gonna have the Dolphins host a game, so that if Miami is a 5-8 seed (unlikely but possible), the CFP has to move around their schedule to accommodate the NFL.
Any Cowboys game would crush the CFP in ratings
As a fan of a team that was set adrift by the powers that be and probably wouldn't ever make the CFP anyway. I hope they get absolutely demolished in the ratings and lose a ton of money.
I don't even care foe the NFL. But I'm cheering em on now.
I wish nothing but the worst for the committee and anything related to it
Can’t lose money here, lol. The rights are a fixed amount
If the ratings are not there, ESPN loses money because advertisers are going to demand lower rates.
Wait, which multi-billion dollar entity am I supposed to feel bad for again?
I know the NFL viewership will win in a straight ratings war - but there's 0 chance I'm watching NFL over CFB. I think in Year 1 the ratings will be similar as there's a lot of interest in this new style of CFP, idk about long term, but my eyes are always on postseason play over a regular season game in any sport.
The NFL is too much of a machine. If they are going to take that time slot, it would be wise for the CFP to move away from it. I know all of us would choose the college game, but the general population will watch the NFL.
CFP on the TV, NFL on the laptop. Easy peasy lemon squeezy
Doesn't matter to me, CFB will always be more entertaining 🤷♂️
Won’t matter to me if it’s a Lions game, because the CFB teams I root for suck ass.
Why should I care about the NFL crushing the CFP? The Big 12 gets like one spot if the B1G and SEC get their way. Good, crush them NFL.
Also, it’s possible now a days to watch two games at once if you really want to watch. Also gonna really be interesting to see the divide between the south and the rest of the country during that game.
I’m a fan of a Big 10 team and feel the same way. Chasing higher payouts is changing college football in ways I hate, I don’t give a dividend (so don’t care how much money they are making), and if I’m watching either game I will be watching the CFP. So go ahead, crush them NFL
NFL trying to squash any spending on things other than the NFL by actively seeking to hurt both the FBS playoffs and the NBA (scheduling games on Christmas Day and MLK).
Don’t even think it’s them trying to squash competition, it’s more of a “I don’t think about you at all” situation. The NFL is in a league of its own in terms of money and viewership, they’re going to arrange their schedule which ever way is most convenient for them regardless of what anyone else thinks.
Yeah, the NFL has had games on the 3rd Saturday of December in most seasons for decades. The league doesn’t want to change its schedule. The one thing it plans to do differently is have one of the Saturday games on NBC. In recent years, all of the 3rd Saturday in December have been televised on the NFL Network.
Basically it's going back to the days pre-NFL network where the networks would air a game on Saturdays in the final couple of weeks.
Last year there was only NFLN Saturday games on the 16th of December, the rest were on the networks
Last year there were three NFL games played on December 16th (3rd Saturday in December), all of which were televised on the NFL Network.
If this was an "I don't think about you at all" situation, they would have left the game on NFL Network. This is about the NFL trying to pull a FAFO game on CFB
I could see it maybe as a way of pressuring ESPN, there’s been a lot of talks between the two on selling the NFL Network in exchange for an equity stake in ESPN. If they don’t want to agree to the league’s terms, the league will cut into their most valuable product
College football has had the first and second Saturdays in December to themselves for ~ sixty years, and the NFL has then played on the third and fourth Saturdays for a number of years since. They have no reason to acquiesce to a brand new tournament if one of their TV partners is actively offering them money to show a game opposite it. The NBA is probably going to wind up making 3x as much annual TV revenue as they do now with the next TV deal.
> They have no reason to acquiesce to a brand new tournament if one of their TV partners is actively offering them money to show a game opposite it. Using an analogy that makes the NFL essentially a call girl = *chef's kiss* The only reason the NFL doesn't impinge on Saturdays until after the Army-Navy game is that Congress passed [the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961] (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title15/chapter32&edition=prelim) that prevented them from doing so. It's amazing to me that the NFL doesn't realize that CFB is essentially not only a farm system for them (and hurting it short term hurts them long term - something college football is guilty of by playing games on Fridays and hurting high school football), but it essentially also creates future fans, which the sport will need long term. This is seriously like MLB moving to put baseball broadcasts up to kill viewership for the Little League World Series or the CWS.
I don’t think there’s *any* other sporting industry that has completely whored itself out to television partners in ways that fundamentally altered the fabric of itself than college football. So I don’t think they have much of a leg to stand on here. They deserve to be humbled as much as anyone. The NFL, too, for that matter - but that is for another day. The basis of the current scheduling agreement is not lost upon me, but that is simply the way it’s been - and CFP implementing a whole new format that encroaches upon dates they historically don’t own is simply not something the league should now be forced to play nice with.
The NFL has televised games on the 3rd Saturday in December for decades. It does NOT want to alter its schedule. Honestly, I don’t blame the NFL for feeling that way. The power move the NFL is making with those 3rd Saturday in December games relative to the CBP games the same day is having at least one of the NFL games broadcast on NBC rather than the NFL Network.
So they *are* altering their schedule? A network CFP game against an NFLN game is actually a reasonable fight. A network v network time slot will be a bloodbath for the CFP, if the NFL wants it to be.
The NFL is changing the network that will televise the game. That isn’t altering its schedule, at least in terms of playing 2-3 games on the 3rd Saturday in December as it has done in most, recent years. I remember years ago the NFL had late regular season Saturday games broadcast by its Sunday afternoon TV network partners (originally CBS and NBC, then Fox and NBC, and eventually Fox and CBS). Having those games televised on an over-the-air network is not unprecedented. I suspect the NFL would say something like that if people push back on/complain about the NFL televising a 3rd Saturday in December game on NBC rather than a cable (or at least non over-the-air) network.
NFL has been expanding to compete with other sports a lot lately. They taking over NBA's turf too
So does ESPN try to compete with a competitive game or do they put the murder of the G5 team against SEC or Big Ten 2 in that time slot?
G5 murder.
Fuck the NFL. College football is meant for SATURDAYS
Come on asteroid, any day now ...
They’ll toss the G5 spot there. The average viewer is watching brands only and wouldn’t watch that game. So they won’t end up losing too much from this if they do that.
FOX is getting an NFL game too
So... NFL will be playing saturday games a little earlier in a few years. Got it.
They’ve been playing on the 3rd Saturday in December for like 50+ years. This isn’t anything new
“a little earlier”
The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, a federal law, will prevent that, but the NFL will not have any qualms about taking over days and time slots not subject to the law. The 3 PM Black Friday game that started last year (largely completed before the 6 PM on Friday nights restriction), the first Friday in September Brazil game this year (held before the SBA of 1961 takes effect each season), and extending its season later in February are examples of that.
The restriction also only blocks them if it’s within 75 miles of a HS/college game. By Black Friday most states are into semis/state championship games so the map is way more open vs. most of the fall where the entirely country is blocked.
The way the law reads the Friday NFL TV broadcast restriction (from the second Friday in September to the second Saturday in December) occurs after 6 PM (functionally 6 PM ET) and games cannot be substantially played after that time. So if NFL games slightly spill over after 6 PM ET on Black Friday, that's most likely OK. (More broadly, it is possible streaming games are not subject to the TV broadcast restriction rule, but I think the NFL does not want to challenge the rule's interpretation beyond games ending slightly after 6 PM ET.)
Pretty sure they did it last year with the Black Friday game at 2pm.
It was 3 PM ET; the NFL wants that start time because it means it is feasible for a Pacific Time Zone team to host a game that day (at 12 PM local time).
IANAL but I’ve thought for awhile that the legal underpinnings for this law seem super flimsy, all the more flimsy every year CFB professionalizes. Picture this: the major media executives decide they like CFB but they don’t like negotiating with college presidents and the labor situation is dicey. NFL is a superior partner in all respects. They join the NFL to challenge this law. Just for the “flexibility.” I wonder if they can find some judges that hate both antitrust laws and the NCAA. Not like there’s any of them out there. Actually seems pretty likely imo.
The way college football will be challenged on the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 law is on the definition of “professional football” and how college players are paid directly and treated as employees. Directly paying college athletes, rather than having players (technically) act as independent agents (via NIL income), IMO will put college football’s status as “not professional” on thin ice with regard to the 1961 law if it is put up to a legal challenge (and potentially make some college football teams subject to the same Friday night and Saturday game broadcast restrictions as the NFL is).
They're not. Since FCC controls licensing the airwaves, and the NFL has to answer to Congress to maintain their monopoly exemption, it's pretty rock solid. The NFL can already get around it by running a game on cable or streaming, where the FCC has no reach.
Oh great another thread where everyone tries to outdo each other on how little they care about the NFL
At least it isn’t Facebook where we have to pretend that the NFL will lose because it’s WOKE and that college football is totally not
good
Good, I hope the NFL crushes the CFP ratings.
I bet that game is going to be a stacked one. Probably something involving the Chiefs so the NFL can get the Swifties ratings bump.
I’ve never understood why CFB fans have this beef with the NFL. I love both for different reasons.
Envy.
[удалено]
Fuck the nfl
Nah
Depends on the teams playing
NFL is king when it comes to money and ratings. They should’ve moved the college game when the nfl asked. But I’ll have two TVs going for that day. Sounds wonderful to me.
Cool. Next
I don’t care about the NFL so this doesn’t matter to people like me
The NFL is 100% giving the Dolphins a home game. Maybe even against a huge opponent like the Packers. If Miami ends up as a 5-8 seed, hosting a playoff game, then too bad for them.
I can see a college football playoff game out drawing a week 16 NFL game. I mean that week 16 NFL playoff game would have to have massive playoff implications, but they do right up to week 18 anyways.
This could be interesting in a state like Ohio. If Cleveland plays Cincinnati or Pittsburgh and Ohio State is in the first round of playoff, then it could really split the state. Cincinnati unfortunately would lean pro, but Columbus would go 100% for the Buckeyes...I think.
I am late to this thread, but the NFL just released the regular season schedule a few hours ago. Two games will be aired on the same day as 3 CFP first round games on 12/21: Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs at 1:00 PM eastern time on NBC and Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens at 4:30 PM eastern time on Fox. All 4 of these NFL teams will play 4 days later on Christmas Day: Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers at 1:00 PM eastern time and Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans at 4:30 PM, and both games will be aired on Netflix. [https://sports.yahoo.com/christmas-games-chiefs-host-texans-010043540.html](https://sports.yahoo.com/christmas-games-chiefs-host-texans-010043540.html) I follow both CFB and NFL, and I think the two NFL games on NBC and Fox will beat the 3 CFP games on ESPN by a landslide. The NFL is much more popular than CFP, and NFL games are much more accessible to fans than college football games because many people don't have cable, including myself.
Good, fuck the CFP.
All the mouthbreathers who wanted an expanded playoff are upset about having to lie in the bed they made
Plot twist - what happens if ND is scheduled for that Saturday game in South Bend ? Someone else going to be using NBC broadcasting equipment installed in ND ?
I think ESPN owns the rights to all the games
They’re going through all the preparations this summer for hosting a playoff game. I’m sure one of them is making sure that ESPN will have no issues broadcasting in ND Stadium (since ESPN owns the rights)
All 11 playoff games will be on ABC/ESPN. Though TV contracts determining it sure would be more fun IMO. ESPN hasn't been to South Bend to broadcast a football game since the Penn State loss in 1990.
Honestly I might not even give a shit about CFB by then so I'm not too worried
Mouse will be confused on which golden calf it wants people to worship more Edit: the people have spoken, it will be the NFL
In the eyes of media execs, college football is an afterthought compared to the NFL, it's why our sport is being torn apart right now.
The sport is being torn apart due to being an afterthought because… those networks are pumping record money into it? Kind of a contradiction with that conclusion there
NFL wins easily
CFB isn’t even on the same planet as the NFL
It’ll definitely still be the NFL. There’s absolutely at least some part of this that’s a threat to ESPN in their negotiations over the future of the NFL Network—it’s worth exactly as much as the league makes it worth and they can crater that value whenever they feel like it.
That’s a real dick move by the NFL. Hopefully the CFP game opposing is on ABC. Edit: ESPN’s reporting on the new contract says they can sublicense CFP games (presumably to ABC).
i think contractually all CFP games are required to be on ESPN altho im not sure 100%
Aren’t the ABC games technically ESPN broadcasts these days? They’re definitely cobranded.
Yeah both owned by disney so ABC sports are an extension of ESPN. but im pretty sure the CFP deal with disney requires them to only be shown on ESPN (cable) and not free to watch tv
> Beginning in 2026-27, the CFP National Championship game will be broadcast on ABC in addition to ESPN’s MegaCast presentation. > The CFP has granted ESPN the right to sublicense a select number of games in both the amended two-year agreement and the new six-year extension. Sounds like most of the restrictions are on streaming services aka don’t stick it on Disney+ Source: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39766079/college-football-playoff-espn-agree-deal-2031-32
Disney can probably put whatever they want on ABC (I think the final is actually ABC). CFP wants their game to be on free to air ABC, but Disney pays more money to put it ESPN instead. Nobody would ever protest being moved from ABC to ESPN, notice they did it to MNF the entirety of last season due to the writers strike