Ratings collapse

[Fire_Marshall_Bill]

In time, there will definitely be playoff fatigue with this 12-team format.
Only the bluest of bluebloods can consistently muster 40k fans at neutral/distant locations, three or four weeks in a row, on short notice.

I don't even think it will be 40k. Most alumni are middle class. They don't have thousands lying around to go to fly to 3 or 4 games. Plus there's taking time off, arranging babysitters, pet sitters or kennels and everything else. Plane tickets five days in advance tend to be expensive. It's easy to just watch it on TV.

 

[TTJ]

In time, there will definitely be playoff fatigue with this 12-team format.
Only the bluest of bluebloods can consistently muster 40k fans at neutral/distant locations, three or four weeks in a row, on short notice.

Quarterfinals should be home games for the higher seed

That just stacks the deck even more heavily in favor of the committee’s seeding judgments.
This whole bill of goods was sold to us (by E$PN) as a way to “decide it on the field.”
There is no way to unfuck this ridiculous playoff sham. Either it all depends on the committee (and the E$PN hype train) or you will eventually play late January games in half-empty stadiums. It’s all intractable bullshit.

 

[Quietcowskee]

In time, there will definitely be playoff fatigue with this 12-team format.
Only the bluest of bluebloods can consistently muster 40k fans at neutral/distant locations, three or four weeks in a row, on short notice.

Quarterfinals should be home games for the higher seed

That just stacks the deck even more heavily in favor of the committee’s seeding judgments.
This whole bill of goods was sold to us (by E$PN) as a way to “decide it on the field.”
There is no way to unfuck this ridiculous playoff sham. Either it all depends on the committee (and the E$PN hype train) or you will eventually play late January games in half-empty stadiums. It’s all intractable bullshit.

I’m intractable that you’re intractable.

 

[AOG]

It's just based on who has the money, as can be easily shown

 

[RaceBannon]

Cotton Bowl set a record. Friday night and Ohio State and Texas
The lesson the CFP will learn is that you need Bama and Ohio State which is what the SEC and B1G want you to think. 2 league invitational

 

[TTJ]

Once the novelty wears off, the Bammer poors won’t show up en masse at Madison and Pasadena on consecutive weeks. In January. On short notice.
Who are we kidding here?

 

[DerekJohnson]

Once the novelty wears off, the Bammer poors won’t show up en masse at Madison and Pasadena on consecutive weeks. In January. On short notice.
Who are we kidding here?

I think this is true for every fan base

 

[RaceBannon]

Its made for TV anyway. You can give away tickets to the studio audience like they do in Hollywood for game shows
The Cotton Bowl record was 20 million viewers
Don't shoot me I'm just the guy who has been against every "improvement" since 1996. The only thing I like is legally paying players illegally

 

[Fire_Marshall_Bill]

NFL ratings are down 2.2 serpent. While they're different games with different problems, both are trending down in terms of quality.

NBA ratings are down by over 40% just since 2012. The NBA All-Star game drew yuge numbers in the 80s and 90s. 20 or 30 million.

Now it's on TBS or something and it's a joke, just like the Pro Bowel. They draw about five million.

I wonder how football will be in 10 years. Either way, it'll be interesting. I think the NFL will keep losing viewers with the woke shit and the ridiculous rules.

 

[TheHB]

The transition to streaming is impacting all TV viewers. So is the transition to the latest iteration of playoffs. The schedule is weird. I had no clue the ND-Penn State game was on a Thursday until the day before. Now, the title game is on a Monday — late in January — and it seems anticlimactic.
It's affecting the NFL is similar ways. Spreading out the first round of the playoffs over three days, with six games, is a newish thing.
And sometimes you just want to catch a rerun of McMillan and Wife.

 

[BleachedAnusDawg]

Its made for TV anyway. You can give away tickets to the studio audience like they do in Hollywood for game shows
The Cotton Bowl record was 20 million viewers
Don't shoot me I'm just the guy who has been against every "improvement" since 1996. The only thing I like is legally paying players illegally

Cut out city stadiums and build an NFL studio where each game is played with piped in crowd noise for the "home team." That'd be something.

 

[flatus]

The format is going to 16 teams. The first 2 rounds will likely be home games for higher seeds. It's possible they'll keep the bowl tie-ins for the quarterfinals, but it's asinine and would only be to appease sponsors.
The biggest problem with bowl tie-ins is the way they throw off the timing. The quarterfinals shouldn't be played on New Years. They need to be 1-2 weeks earlier so that there's no more than 7-10 days between CCGs (preferably get rid of them altogether) and each round of the playoff.
It may take one more cycle of revision (after the 2026 revision) to clean up the scheduling nightmare caused by bowl tie-ins, but it will eventually happen.

 

[ntxduck]

The format is going to 16 teams. The first 2 rounds will likely be home games for higher seeds. It's possible they'll keep the bowl tie-ins for the quarterfinals, but it's asinine and would only be to appease sponsors.
The biggest problem with bowl tie-ins is the way they throw off the timing. The quarterfinals shouldn't be played on New Years. They need to be 1-2 weeks earlier so that there's no more than 7-10 days between CCGs (preferably get rid of them altogether) and each round of the playoff.
It may take one more cycle of revision (after the 2026 revision) to clean up the scheduling nightmare caused by bowl tie-ins, but it will eventually happen.

wild idea that I saw floating around; reduce non-con schedule by 1 game and get rid of fcs games. Would move everything up one week. Then, to help keep those fcs teams afloat who rely on those payday games, allow the spring game to be a full 60 minute game, fbs v fcs.

 

[CallMeBigErn]

NFL ratings are down 2.2 serpent. While they're different games with different problems, both are trending down in terms of quality.

NBA ratings are down by over 40% just since 2012. The NBA All-Star game drew yuge numbers in the 80s and 90s. 20 or 30 million.

Now it's on TBS or something and it's a joke, just like the Pro Bowel. They draw about five million.

I wonder how football will be in 10 years. Either way, it'll be interesting. I think the NFL will keep losing viewers with the woke shit and the ridiculous rules.

2.2 serpent

 

[WoolleyDoog]

Sports, and especially college football, is challenging the fatigue reservoirs of fans so hard imo. I think an underrated element of stuff too is every year that goes by is another year of things that have happened in sports which can make them less special. It's crazy to think now to me that when I was a kid the first Super Bowls I was invested in watching were only in the 20s of them ever happening. Everything feels a little less essential or special possibly as more of them happen.

 

[Canadawg]

Its made for TV anyway. You can give away tickets to the studio audience like they do in Hollywood for game shows
The Cotton Bowl record was 20 million viewers
Don't shoot me I'm just the guy who has been against every "improvement" since 1996. The only thing I like is legally paying players illegally

Cut out city stadiums and build an NFL studio where each game is played with piped in crowd noise for the "home team." That'd be something.

I know you're being sarcastic but NFL teams get a quarter of their entire revenue from butts in seats and college is probably closer to half

 

[WoolleyDoog]

The format is going to 16 teams. The first 2 rounds will likely be home games for higher seeds. It's possible they'll keep the bowl tie-ins for the quarterfinals, but it's asinine and would only be to appease sponsors.
The biggest problem with bowl tie-ins is the way they throw off the timing. The quarterfinals shouldn't be played on New Years. They need to be 1-2 weeks earlier so that there's no more than 7-10 days between CCGs (preferably get rid of them altogether) and each round of the playoff.
It may take one more cycle of revision (after the 2026 revision) to clean up the scheduling nightmare caused by bowl tie-ins, but it will eventually happen.

wild idea that I saw floating around; reduce non-con schedule by 1 game and get rid of fcs games. Would move everything up one week. Then, to help keep those fcs teams afloat who rely on those payday games, allow the spring game to be a full 60 minute game, fbs v fcs.

I actually like this idea and think it would be a big score, especially at first. I'm way more inclined to go to or at least watch a game against an FCS school in spring when I'm super football starved. I assume you'll also draw in casual viewers who are desperate for football. You can probably create some games like the Colorado South Dakota State one this year.
Problem is a lot of players won't play in bowl games, why are they going to play in exhibition games against FCS schools?

 

[godawgst]

How completely Dominant is the 800k lb gorilla in the room NFL tv viewership that every other Pro and College Sports (inc Colllege) figures out every avenue to not put their games up against them.
College Football semifinal games which ESPN paid 1.4 billion a year for played them on Thursday and the most dead tv viewing day of the week Friday as opposed to Saturday to avoid NFL Wildcard Weekend,
College Football will move up regular season so everyone starts on week zero (last weekend in August) so that they can play the semifinals New Years Day and final week after.

 

[TheHB]

I had literally forgotten there was still a college game to be played. The current playoff schedule is retarded.
Check that. The playoffs are retarded.

 

[WoolleyDoog]

I had literally forgotten there was still a college game to be played. The current playoff schedule is retarded.
Check that. The playoffs are retarded.

The final game being this late in January is weird. Need to capitalize on the time around the holidays. One of the great things about bowl season was it was around the holidays when work slows down/shuts down, you're sitting around with family and getting fat, and watching football. Feels more like a corporate chore in late-January.