TV ratings for the first round of the College Football Playoff last weekend were down nearly 7% compared to last season as stiff competition from the NFL once again proved to be too much to handle.
The CFP’s four first-round games averaged 9.9 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, and TNT Sports, compared to an average audience of 10.6 million on the same platforms in 2024. The NFL’s Week 16 Saturday doubleheader averaged 18.4 million viewers on Fox.
Here’s the full breakdown:
- Alabama-Oklahoma, 8 p.m. (Friday): 14.9 million (ABC/ESPN)
- Miami–Texas A&M, noon: 14.8 million (ABC/ESPN)
- Tulane–Ole Miss, 3:30 p.m.: 6.2 million (TNT Sports)
- Eagles-Commanders, 5 p.m.: 15.5 million (Fox)
- James Madison–Oregon, 7:30 p.m.: 4.4 million (TNT Sports)
- Packers-Bears, 8:20 p.m.: 21.3 million (Fox)
Alabama’s thrilling 34–24 comeback victory over Oklahoma is the most-watched first round CFP game on record. But Oregon’s 51–34 blowout of JMU is the lowest CFP audience of any round on record.
The combination of lopsided victories for Power 4 teams over Group of 6 opponents overlapping with consequential late-season NFL action was the perfect storm for TV ratings in the latter half of Saturday. The average audience of Fox’s two NFL games (18.4 million) more than tripled the two CFP matchups played around the same time on TNT Sports (5.3 million).
The four first-round CFP games in 2024 and 2025 that didn’t face competition from overlapping NFL games averaged roughly 14.3 million viewers, a higher mark than all but four other college football games during the 2025 season, including conference championship games. But the four first-round games the past two seasons that have overlapped with NFL games have averaged 6.4 million.
The CFP is unlikely to avoid NFL competition under its current format and scheduling strategy. The NFL has scheduled games on mid- and late-December Saturdays for years and has no plans of changing that.
If the CFP expands to 16 teams, that would mean four more first-round games to find TV windows for. In 2026, ESPN begins its six-year, $7.8 billion contract extension for CFP media rights, which the network has had since the CFP’s inception in 2014. TNT Sports sublicensed two first-round games this season and last year, and is expanding its portfolio to five games next year, including two quarterfinal matchups and one semifinal game.
