3 Takeaways From the Release of the College Football Playoff TV Schedule

The 2024-25 College Football Playoff schedule has been released and has certainly caused quite a few reactions. Almost everyone agrees that the move to a 12-team playoff will be good for the game, but until now, nobody had looked at how it would look on a schedule, particularly while competing with NFL games that are finishing up the regular season and Playoff games.

Now we have the answers, and it certainly is interesting. Here are three takeaways:

1. We May Want a 24-Team Expanded Playoff, But it May Not Be Realistic

There has already been some discussion of possibly expanding  more to 24 teams, but after seeing that the games range from December 20th to January 20th, adding an additional round of games simply isn’t realstic. If an additional round were to be added, the Playoff would either have to start around December 10th or end in the last week of January. Considering that teams report in July, that would be asking players to be locked in and playing for more than six months.

What is possible is expanidng to 16 teams. The First Round of the CFP takes place the penultimate weekend of the weekend (weekend before Christmas) and there is only one game on Friday, and three on Saturday. Adding a second game on Friday (5PM ET) and either an afternoon game that same Friday or compete with Monday Night Football the following Monday. It would be a tough fit, but it is possible to add an additional two first round games.

2. The Semi-Finals and Championship Game Won’t Fight the NFL

Everyone knows that college football is a Saturday sport, but for years there have been rumblings and complaints that when the biggest games happen, they aren’t on Saturdays. Some beleived that with the expanded playoff, and the NFL’s recent trend of stepping on other sports’ schedules (NFL games on Christmas/Black Friday) that College Football would respond by moving their games to Saturdays.

Apparently not.

There are some outside reasons why college football may not have gotten any games on a Saturday after the First Round such as TV stations refusing to air games while an NFL game is being played, but it is surprising that neither of the Semi-Final games will be played on a Saturday, considering Thursday January 9th, is a workday.

Saturday January 18th is the weekend of the NFL Divisional Round with two games. Personally I believe that the College Football Championship game would do better going head-to-head with a Divisional Round game and would lead to better ratings than playing late on a Monday, particularly if the game were to be played at 7:00 PM ET, an hour before the second NFL game begins.

3. New Years Eve/Day Still Four of the NY6 Bowls

This isn’t new information, but it is something that many casual fans may not have known. For the Playoff, the first round will be played at the home stadium of the higher seed. For example, if the 5-seed Auburn is playing the 12-seed Oklahoma State, the first round game will be played at Auburn.

For the secound round, or the quarterfinals, four of the traditional NY6 Bowls will be played. For this year, this includes the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Peach Bowl. Historically, these four games along with the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl have been played between December 30th and January 2nd depending on the year.

The biggest difference will be that in the past, unless they were Semi-Final games, they were always associated with a conference or at-large. For example, the Rose Bowl was a Pac 12 vs Big 10 matchup. Starting this year, there are no affiliations which means it could be an ACC vs SEC game or even an SEC vs SEC game.

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