CFP on New Year's Eve

[BobbyMac]

Louisville?

Yep... unless they've changed it.

 

[NDohio]

Yep... unless they've changed it.

Yeah - I guess it's in between Louisville and Bowling Green where the line is. I know part of the western portion of KY is in Central.

 

[Irish#1]

Most of the SEC are not in the eastern time zone ...

Ohio covered it.

Yep... unless they've changed it.

NDC is correct. Louisville is eastern.

 

[BobbyMac]

Yeah they only put us barefoot, unedumacated, Western Ky river rats on CST.

 

[Legacy]

SEC not interested in moving Sugar Bowl to help College Football Playoff

In the aftermath of a major viewership decline for the College Football Playoff semifinal games, which were held this season on New Year's Eve, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey indicated Sunday that his conference has no interest moving the Sugar Bowl -- contracted as an SEC-Big 12 game -- off Jan. 1.

“We've got an important and meaningful relationship with the Sugar Bowl over time that the Big 12 and SEC worked to establish a contract and an agreement that that's when that game would be played,” Sankey said. “That is important to us. I think it's clearly important to our fans. It was important to the Oklahoma State and Big 12 fans who were in New Orleans. We're going to protect that tradition.”

The television ratings for the Dec. 31 semifinal games dropped about 36 percent compared to the 2014 season games on Jan. 1. According to Broadcasting & Cable, ESPN is currently negotiating more than $20 million in credits to advertisers to compensate for the broadcast's lower-than-expected ratings.

Both semifinal games weren't competitive in the second half so that certainly played a factor in lower viewership. But the larger issue is many people work on New Year's Eve and celebrate the new year at night without watching football.
Asked whether playoff games are more important overall than the Sugar Bowl, Sankey replied, “That's a value judgment. There's an opportunity on New Year's Eve that was meaningful -- still is meaningful -- so you can make one's evaluation and judgment about importance. I think both sets of games are important. There are six games that are part of this format now. Each of those is important in their own way. The playoffs are important as well and they do attract meaningful interest, even though there was a decline in TV ratings this year.”

ESPN is paying approximately $80 million per year to the SEC and Big 12 for the Sugar Bowl, contracted to be played on Jan. 1 every year. The SEC and Big 12 created a new game -- the so-called Champions Bowl -- and then sold it to the Sugar. The SEC's creation of this "new" bowl became leverage in playoff discussions as the leagues wanted the game to receive similar exposure and money as the Rose Bowl, which historically plays on Jan. 1.

Sankey noted that the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 has clearly been important to the Big Ten and Pac-12. Before the playoff era started, the Sugar had been played on Jan. 1 just twice in the previous 11 years. The Sugar was played on Jan. 1 a total of 34 times in its first 47 years. The game was on Dec. 31 from 1972-75 and in 1995.

“There will be plenty of time to look at ratings and the second evolution of the College Football Playoff,” Sankey said. “There will be plenty of time for that discussion and learning.”

 

[wizards8507]

College Football Playoff mulling moving semis from New Year's Eve

Even before Year 2, ESPN executives lobbied extensively for the semifinals to be moved off New Year's Eve. But the conference commissioners wouldn't budge.

 

[Monk]

College Football Playoff mulling moving semis from New Year's Eve

I know next to nothing about ratings, and my next comment might indicated that, but I believe these numbers are skewed. If you have the games on a day where many individuals will be located around one television then it will look like less people are watching because less TVs are on the channel, when in reality there are more eyes on a single TV. I also believe this is the case as to why they have the championship game on a Monday. Not many people head out to the bar to watch a late game on Monday night which means more TVs will be on and it will look like they have more people watching the game.

Maybe this is not how rating work. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[wizards8507]

I know next to nothing about ratings, and my next comment might indicated that, but I believe these numbers are skewed. If you have the games on a day where many individuals will be located around one television then it will look like less people are watching because less TVs are on the channel, when in reality there are more eyes on a single TV. I also believe this is the case as to why they have the championship game on a Monday. Not many people head out to the bar to watch a late game on Monday night which means more TVs will be on and it will look like they have more people watching the game.

Maybe this is not how rating work. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Along with cord-cutting, you're talking about one of THE biggest hot topics in the business.

ESPN Bellies Up to the Bar with Out-of-Home Data | Special Report: TV Upfront - AdAge

TL;DR - Advertising is sold based on Nielsen ratings and Nielsen doesn't measure out-of-home viewing data (yet), but they're working on it. Out-of-home viewing skews very heavily towards sports. Now ESPN and Fox have to convince the ad agencies to accept these metrics as the new industry standard and get them to pay for it.

 

[Monk]

Along with cord-cutting, you're talking about one of THE biggest hot topics in the business.

ESPN Bellies Up to the Bar with Out-of-Home Data | Special Report: TV Upfront - AdAge

TL;DR - Advertising is sold based on Nielsen ratings and Nielsen doesn't measure out-of-home viewing data (yet), but they're working on it. Out-of-home viewing skews very heavily towards sports. Now ESPN and Fox have to convince the ad agencies to accept these metrics as the new industry standard and get them to pay for it.

I get very upset, to the point I threaten to boycott the game, that the college championship games are on late (east coast) Monday night. It seems very obvious that the current ratings system does not measure actual viewership for sporting events.

 

[gkIrish]

I literally did not watch the second half of Bama Michigan St. NYE games are a terrible idea.

 

[wizards8507]

I literally did not watch the second half of Bama Michigan St. NYE games are a terrible idea.

Yes.

ESPN was like: Guys, this is stupid.
The bowls and conferences were like: Nah, it's good.
The viewers were like: I'm not watching football on NYE
Now ESPN is like: We told you so.
So the bowls and conferences are like: Yeah, maybe you were right...

 

[IrishLion]

I would watch on NYE no problem, but obligations on NYE are much harder to get out of than most other nights of the holiday season.

Last year, I missed the second half of Oklahoma/Clemson to go to a hockey game. I had a great time with my family, but football >>>>>> hockey.

I then had a party to go to, and the females turned off football in favor of NYE coverage, so we missed almost all of MSU/Bama.

If MSU/Bama were a close game, we probably would have overtaken the TV. But still.

 

[wizards8507]

I would watch on NYE no problem, but obligations on NYE are much harder to get out of than most other nights of the holiday season.

Last year, I missed the second half of Oklahoma/Clemson to go to a hockey game. I had a great time with my family, but football >>>>>> hockey.

I then had a party to go to, and the females turned off football in favor of NYE coverage, so we missed almost all of MSU/Bama.

If MSU/Bama were a close game, we probably would have overtaken the TV. But still.

And you're a hardcore fan who spends a lot of time on a CFB message board. Now magnify that out to the casual fan.

Regardless, the obvious solution to your problem is to not have friends.

 

[IrishLion]

And you're a hardcore fan who spends a lot of time on a CFB message board. Now magnify that out to the casual fan.

Regardless, the obvious solution to your problem is to not have friends.

I try so hard to not.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

I get very upset, to the point I threaten to boycott the game, that the college championship games are on late (east coast) Monday night. It seems very obvious that the current ratings system does not measure actual viewership for sporting events.

I remember the actual kickoff of the OSU-Oregon championship game being like 10:30 Eastern. On a Monday. Agree that is absolutely ridiculous.