Expanded CFP Offers More Teams Hope. Will It Boost Viewership, Too?

College football heads into its first full slate of Saturday games with more programs and fan bases than ever before believing they are a part of the national championship conversation. 

This is all thanks to the expanded College Football Playoff that is tripling from four teams to 12. ESPN, which signed a $7.8 billion deal this year to keep CFP rights through 2032, and TNT Sports, which will be sublicensing some playoff games, are no doubt hoping for juicy postseason matchups come December. But almost every college football broadcaster, including other top dogs like CBS, Fox, and NBC, should end up benefiting along the way, too.

“My perspective is that the CFP will create additional continuity and storylines throughout the season, and that will generate increased viewership,” Lee Berke, a sports media consultant who works with dozens of clients across the NCAA and professional leagues, tells Front Office Sports. “College football up until now has focused on rivalries and undefeated seasons. Expanding the playoff will bring more teams into playoff contention, and when that happens, more fans will watch.”

Can Fox Sports Sustain Success?

Last season, Fox’s Big Noon Saturday matchup was the most-watched TV window in college football, boosted by the season-high 19 million viewers who watched Michigan beat Ohio State in late November. Here were the top three weekly windows in 2023:

• Fox Big Noon Saturday: 6.74 million viewers
• SEC on CBS: 6.73 million viewers
• ABC Saturday prime time: 4.11 million viewers

This fall, ABC and ESPN are taking over the top SEC matchup of the week from CBS, which will air more Big Ten games in the second season of that conference’s seven-year, $7 billion deals with CBS, Fox, and NBC. ESPN still has ACC rights, and shares rights to the new 16-team Big 12 with Fox.

Nationwide Buzz

The expectation for more fan interest during the regular season is shared by many of college football’s most influential voices. “I think it makes every Saturday even more exciting,” first-year CFP executive director Richard Clark told the Phoenix Business Journal this week. 

Power 4 conference champions receive automatic bids and first-round playoff byes, which could turn previously inconsequential games into must-see TV. “What you’re going to have is a lot more elimination-type games,” On3 college football insider Andy Staples said on the Pardon My Take podcast. “Like the Big 12, any game that affects who gets into the Big 12 championship game is a playoff elimination game. And that could be four games a week in November.”

ESPN already saw its most-watched Week 0 matchup in five years, with five million viewers tuning in to Georgia Tech’s upset of No. 10 Florida State in Ireland. On Saturday, ABC gets three matchups between ranked teams: No. 14 Clemson vs. No. 1 Georgia, No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 20 Texas A&M, and No. 23 USC vs. No. 13 LSU.