NEWS: The finale of the inaugural 12-team Playoff featuring Ohio State and Notre Dame drew the third-smallest viewership for a title game in the CFP era. @mattbakercfb.bsky.social and @richarddeitsch.bsky.social have more ⤵️ www.nytimes.com/athletic/608... - ThreadSky

theathletic.bsky.social • 149 days ago

NEWS: The finale of the inaugural 12-team Playoff featuring Ohio State and Notre Dame drew the third-smallest viewership for a title game in the CFP era.

@mattbakercfb.bsky.social and @richarddeitsch.bsky.social have more ⤵️

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6081817/2025/01/22/college-football-playoff-championship-viewership-espn/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky

Comments

pdxghost.bsky.social•149 days ago

As others stated, way too long of a break between end of season and the championship. Poor time slots and major programs dominating again. It just wasn’t an appealing playoff race. We’ve seen OSU and ND play the big game in recent memory.

mmboppy.bsky.social•149 days ago

Honestly didn't know it was on

lavidagata.bsky.social•148 days ago

I suspect that they will take the cumulative massive increase in viewing numbers and $$$$ from ads and sponsorships with many more games involved, in exchange for the lower championship game numbers.

michaelhennessy.bsky.social•149 days ago

You break it, you fix it. If you can't draw eyeballs for Notre Dame-Ohio State, then you have clearly overplayed your hand. Stop the ludicrous NIL amounts, never-ending transfers, month-long playoff. Get all games done by New Year's Day. The whole season was a watered-down slog.

gopherballs.bsky.social•149 days ago

Part of it is cable viewing is down overall and ESPN is down something like 30 million cable subscribers over the last 10-15 years.

gregoryk.bsky.social•149 days ago

Because having a championship game on a Monday night is the dumbest idea since this playoff started years ago. Sad they can’t put this on a Saturday like CFB is supposed to be played

zrcr.bsky.social•149 days ago

Isn't this the latest one in the year ever? Couldn't have helped. They need to figure out how to move it up a week or two.

cfbselect.bsky.social•148 days ago

Get the dang game on ABC

jmidnight.bsky.social•149 days ago

Oh good. It’s over. Thanks for the news.

atuckerinnc.bsky.social•149 days ago

It needs to be on a Saturday night.

seanjohntx.bsky.social•149 days ago

Need to move the first rounds up and put it on broadcast tv.

roejengz.bsky.social•149 days ago

That’s wild given how big the two universities are. Was last year’s championship game broadcasted on something like ABC? Having it be exclusively on ESPN, a channel cable is required to get, is kind of dumb IMO.

frotisbaggins.bsky.social•149 days ago

There were too many playoff games. By the time the championship game came around nobody cared anymore. It last too long.

jrob24.bsky.social•148 days ago

I forgot about it, no joke.

discodan24.bsky.social•149 days ago

its what they get for airing a rapist during the halftime show, plus a lot folks stayed away from tv that day

thepiratedoc.bsky.social•149 days ago

Well … it was Notre Dame for crying out loud.

uniteconquer.bsky.social•149 days ago

It was Ohio State. Everyone outside of Ohio hates them, so why watch?

hoosierdevil.bsky.social•149 days ago

They held it weeks after people are accustomed to paying attention to CFB, created all of these long breaks for people to lose attention, held everything on random days so you had to pay attention to know, and threw up dogsh*t bowls during the holiday break when people typically watch the sport.

lisavan.bsky.social•149 days ago

Ohio vs ND

Nuff said 🥱

gaildardennecole.bsky.social•148 days ago

It was all Midwestern. The south and Xichigan were to sad to watch.

badger-in-mn.bsky.social•148 days ago

Those are two huge fanbases.

coleslawholywar.bsky.social•149 days ago

Would have watched but it was on cable.

erikprado.bsky.social•149 days ago

1. On a Monday
2. On ESPN

Nice it to network TV on a non Monday and ratings will improve

kirksl.bsky.social•148 days ago

I watched, but Monday night was a bad time. It was not the best matchup, a which team you hate the least.

ncxiao.bsky.social•149 days ago

Not surprised. You put it exclusive on some network that most people don’t have. I am a buckeye and I don’t have it. I just listened to the radio. Same excitement

tuesdaytunes.bsky.social•149 days ago

I think part of the problem is having a natty two months after the regular season. Really need to correct things moving forward

topaziswife.bsky.social•149 days ago

Oregon could’ve beat Notre Dame :p

kenburruss.bsky.social•149 days ago

So, I realize that Notre Dame and Ohio State have a lot of fans. However, I'd guess that the number of people nationwide who hate Notre Dame and Ohio State football vastly outnumber those fans.

jwb2.bsky.social•149 days ago

Agreed, I fall into that category

bigmonk.bsky.social•149 days ago

Ohio State and Notre Dame don't get promoted by ESPN like the SEC does. But ESPN owns the SEC.

cbbalb77.bsky.social•149 days ago

Needs to be on a Saturday night

msmithivas.bsky.social•149 days ago

Don't put in exclusively on ESPN then.

gopherballs.bsky.social•149 days ago

Under the contract signed in 2012 (when there were a lot more cable subscribers), the playoff airs exclusively on ESPN through next year. Starting in 2026, ABC can show playoff games.

hrustar.bsky.social•149 days ago

The playoff was boring. Most fans lost interest. Too long and not competitive. New Heights podcast had this same discussion and conclusion.

excan.bsky.social•149 days ago

The playoff was not entertaining and this point rings true for me too:

“K State’s QB throwing a TD to Ole Miss’s RB for OSU who is defending against Wake’s QB throwing to FIU’s wideout after beating Texas led by OSU’s QB throwing to Houston’s WR summarizes why a lot of people care less now”

excan.bsky.social•149 days ago

Hasn’t every single CFP final been on ESPN, though? That wouldn’t explain this year’s poor rating

rickgregory.me•149 days ago

Yep. Im a neutral so id have watched if it was on ABC but I cancelled cable months ago so …

daftbunnyfc.bsky.social•149 days ago

Makes sense keeping in mind the teams involved 😉

hellbenderstl.com•148 days ago

It’s almost as if having it exclusively on their cable platform instead of over the air is a dumbass decision.

andark.bsky.social•148 days ago

Huge if true! 😂

rockjohn.bsky.social•149 days ago

Game ended up being solid-need to rethink Monday night.

janehasopinions.bsky.social•149 days ago

I vowed not to turn on my TV for 36 hours beginning 12:01 am January 20th. Too bad the game fell in that period, but I wouldn't have watched it anyway. Two teams I could not care less about, and I'm a college football fan.

blueoniazure.bsky.social•149 days ago

The game happened???

obravenewkat.bsky.social•149 days ago

I’m not surprised, because there was something bigger going on that day that took our attention away from football.

We were all out volunteering to make our communities better, in honor of MLK.

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