Embedded within the equation of a 24-team College Football Playoff is the calculation of how much any broadcast partner would pay for a “new set of games involving second-tier teams that might not garner the same TV ratings as some of the biggest programs in the sport,” according to Eddie Pells of the AP. A “critical question” around the 24-team CFP is whether anyone “wants to televise it.” Fox has indicated that “it likes the 24-team idea.” The CFP deal that starts this season with ESPN is worth $7.8B over six seasons. That network would have “first dibs on the first two games added to any package.” The rest are “up for grabs.” Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti this week, when asked which TV partner he would like to see jump in, said, “I want to see whoever is committed to making it work.” There is “still the issue of paying for it.” While popular, college football “only captures a fraction of the viewers as the NFL.” The 30.1 million who watched the national championship between Indiana and Miami would have ranked fifth on the NFL’s list of most-watched regular-season offerings. There is also the issue of “how much networks or streamers will have to spend.” The NFL’s recent move into streaming and adding new broadcast windows has “led to thoughts that the league will press for sooner renegotiations of its own deals that currently have an opt-out clause in 2029” (AP, 5/20).
WHO WANTS IN? THE ATHLETIC’s Stewart Mandel wondered how the Big Ten, ACC, Big 12 and Notre Dame can “come out in support of 24 without yet knowing if someone is going to pay for it?” Mandel: “It looks pretty simple, right?” Fox “wants in” on the CFP for the first time, and ESPN “wants to keep the tournament to itself.” But there is “more to it than that.” Less than three years ago, the CFP’s entire rights came on the market -- and Fox did not even bid. No one did except ESPN, which paid $1.3B annually to re-up through 2031-32. Mandel wrote now we are to believe there is “going to be a bidding war for one early-December weekend of games involving teams ranked Nos. 9 through 24?” Kosner Media President John Kosner said, “You’re essentially just bringing in more teams with less and less chance of competing for the championship. The media value will grow a bit, but it might not grow to the level schools hope.” Is it possible that Fox is “already preparing for the worst-case NFL scenario by trying to get more entrenched in college football?” Mandel: “But shouldn’t Fox be conserving its cash for 2029 rather than spending it on first-round CFP games?” (THE ATHLETIC, 5/20).
