The inaugural year of the 12-team College Football Playoff will begin with a first-round game on December 20 and end with the championship game a month later in Atlanta.
The College Football Playoff (CFP) unveiled its complete schedule on Wednesday. The first-round games will take place on December 20 and 21. ABC and ESPN will broadcast games on Friday and Saturday nights with an 8 p.m. EST start time, while TNT will air the afternoon games on December 21 at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. These afternoon games will be concurrent with NFL matchups between Houston and Kansas City at 1 p.m. and Baltimore and Pittsburgh at 4:30 p.m.
Mike Mulvihill, Fox’s president for insights and analytics, believes there will be enough audience for both the NFL and college football. Fox will broadcast the Ravens-Steelers game at the same time as the CFP late afternoon games.
“I believe both the NFL and college football can coexist on that date. I think both events will have good ratings,” he stated.
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The four first-round games, which will be hosted on college campuses, will be announced on December 8. TNT has secured broadcasting rights for two games through a sublicense with ESPN.
ESPN’s $7.8 billion agreement with the CFP, revealed in March, permitted sublicensing of games to other networks. The financial details of the sublicense were not disclosed.
The quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship game will be shown on ESPN.
The top four conference champions will have first-round byes. The quarterfinals will commence on December 31 with the Fiesta Bowl at 7:30 p.m. The Peach Bowl will start off New Year’s Day at 1 p.m., followed by the Rose Bowl at 5 p.m. and the Sugar Bowl at 8:45 p.m.
The semifinals will be the Orange Bowl on January 9 and the Cotton Bowl on January 10. Both will start at 7:30 p.m. before the championship game on January 20 in Atlanta.
ESPN will reveal its schedule for most bowl games on Thursday.
