SBJ Media: No radical changes on deck for ESPN, CFP

A season of experimentation amid a new, expanded College Football Playoff format delivered ESPN lower viewership compared to past iterations, even with the marquee names Ohio State and Notre Dame in the championship (the title game was down 12% year-over-year).

But with a new experience for colleges, fans and brands alike -- combined with extenuating circumstances, like heavy competing coverage of California wildfires and a presidential inauguration -- the CFP and ESPN are not yet looking to shake things up.

ESPN presented viewership data to the CFP Management Committee before the championship game, and sources with knowledge of that presentation told SBJ that the general sentiment among the group was that there was no commitment to any substantive schedule changes in Year 2 of the expanded CFP.

There was little appetite at this time to bring the first round up to Heisman week (also Army-Navy Week). In fact, for the first-round games on TNT Sports that went up against NFL regular-season games on broadcast TV, sources noted ESPN data in the presentation showed it was the NFL that may have lost a more noticeable share of audience by competing with the CFP (meaning the loss of audience for the two afternoon CFP first-round games was not as bad as expected).

As for the semifinals -- down 15% YOY-- which were later in January and held on separate nights for the first time (Thursday and Friday), there also was no concerted movement among CFP stakeholders to change how those games fall on the schedule just yet. 

While conference commissioners and CFP execs got the presentation before the lower CFP National Championship numbers, there were also mitigating factors in Year 1 for that title match, as the event had to compete for eyeballs with inauguration day coverage (networks like Fox News, Newsmax and other cable/broadcast networks saw elevated numbers for news in prime time).

Patience can also be explained by looked at ESPN's non-CFP bowl game numbers this season, which clearly showed a strong appetite for postseason college football. ESPN had its strongest non-CFP bowl average since the 2019-20 season.

Experts see CFP numbers as positive

Media rights consultants also advise against sounding the alarm, referencing the growing decline in linear TV audiences overall. One expert referenced increased audience share going to places like YouTube and Netflix, where programming isn't measured with a traditional Nielsen metric (Netflix's NFL doubleheader being the exception).

“All of Disney combined for streaming and linear is like 2.5% [of the TV watching universe in the U.S]. Getting 20-30 million people to watch something is a big deal, and the fact that [the CFP is] down is missing the point,” added the consultant.

ESPN beginning with the 2026 season starts a six-year extension with the CFP. As part of the extension, starting with that season's title game in January 2027, ESPN will simulcast the CFP Championship on ABC, which is another factor very likely to increase viewership. The new ESPN deal, which will run through 2031-32, also has a “look-in” provision that would allow revenue and formats to be reexamined in 2028 -- or sooner should there be “material realignment.”

“ESPN has lost [around] 30% of their subscriber base over the last few years,” noted another media consultant. “It would seem obvious [to use ABC], like what they did with the NFL and 'MNF.' But ultimately, it comes down to the matchup and whether it’s a high-quality game or not. I would imagine there’ll be some tweaks next year, but going forward under the new ESPN extension, you may be looking at 14 or 16 [teams]. Going head up against the NFL doesn’t seem sensible to me.”

After the meeting between the CFP and its behemoth media partner, it doesn’t seem apparent that any major changes to the media windows will change -- after all, the championship is scheduled for Monday Jan. 19 next year -- also MLK Day.

And the CFP Championship itself continues to grow as a tentpole event on the sports calendar. My boss Abe Madkour dished on his CFP experiences in Atlanta in SBJ this week, writing in part, "The CFP must get more engrained with mainstream culture and build more year-round brand recognition."

The Premier League audience for NBC Sports this season is down just 5% from the same point last season, which was a record-setting campaign for the company.

Matches across NBC and USA are averaging 523,000 viewers through the midpoint of the season, down from 550,000 at the same point in 2023-24. That audience pace is close that the Premier League averaged on NBC Sports airwaves for the full 2022-23 campaign.

Premier League seasons have averaged over 500,000 viewers just four times since NBC Sports took over U.S. rights prior to the 2013-2014 season (including the last three seasons).

The slight decline comes as traditional powerhouse Manchester United is struggling in league play this season, sitting at 12th in the league table. 

The top matches this season to date on NBC:

• Aug. 18: Chelsea-Manchester City with 1.8 million viewers

• Jan. 5: Liverpool-Manchester United with 1.7 million

• Jan. 4: Brighton-Arsenal with 1.2 million

• Jan. 18: Arsenal-Aston Villa with 1.2 million

• Aug. 21: West Ham-Manchester City with 1.1 million

• While media rights for most marquee properties are locked in, 2025 will still see significant dealmaking. Major properties, including the UFC and F1, are up for grabs, as is the re-shaped Pac-12 and depleted Mountain West. ESPN could also opt out of its MLB deal in favor of different terms.

• The Texas Rangers formed a new business entity called Rangers Sports Media & Entertainment Company, and Neil Leibman is leaving his role as team president and COO to oversee it, reports SBJ's Mike Mazzeo. Leibman will serve as chairman of the new company and have oversight of both Rangers Sports Network, which will produce and distribute broadcasts of the team’s games locally, as well as REV Entertainment, which launched in 2021 as the team’s official sports and entertainment partner.

• Mike Greenberg signed off from ESPN Radio today after five years, but hopes to eventually return to the platform eventually. "I love radio and always will," Greeny told me today. "My assumption is someday I will go back to it, but my schedule is so full right now, something had to give." ESPN's new lineup of radio shows debuts Feb. 10, immediately following the Super Bowl. 

• LIV Golf Chief Media Officer Will Staeger is no longer with the organization in what sources tell my colleague Josh Carpenter is calling a mutual parting of ways. Staeger was an original LIV employee, joining the league in the fall of 2021, and negotiated its deals with both The CW and more recently, Fox Sports.

• MLS is moving its media and broadcast production arm, MLS Productions, to the Studios at WWE, a high-tech new facility in Stamford, Conn., reports SBJ's Alex Silverman.

• For a vast and enduring impact on sports media, longtime Fox Sports leader David Hill will receive SBJ's Lifetime Achievement Award for 2025. He will be honored at the Sports Business Awards on May 21 in Manhattan.

• ESPN+ will air a betting-focused alternate feed from six PGA Tour events this year as part of a multiyear deal with ESPN Bet operator Penn Entertainment, notes SBJ's Bill King.

• Longtime media consultants Ed Desser and John Kosner write an op-ed for SBJ this week under the header: "Sports and technology: A perfect union that continues to unlock value."