The inaugural year of the 12-team College Football Playoff is set to begin with a first-round game on Dec. 20 and culminate with the championship game a month later in Atlanta.
The schedule for the CFP was announced on Wednesday. The first-round games will take place on Dec. 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 Dec. 21 at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. These afternoon games will compete with two NFL games featuring Houston vs. Kansas City at 1 p.m. and Baltimore vs. Pittsburgh at 4:30 p.m.
Mike Mulvihill, Fox president for insights and analytics, believes that there will be space for both NFL and college football audiences. Fox will show the Ravens-Steelers game alongside the late afternoon CFP matchups.
“I think it will be fine for the NFL and college football to coexist on that date. I believe both events will have good ratings,” he stated.
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The four first-round games, to be held on college campuses, will be revealed on Dec. 8. TNT will broadcast a couple of games through a sublicense with ESPN.
ESPN’s $7.8 billion deal with the CFP, announced in March, allowed for sublicensing of games to other networks. Financial details of the sublicense were not disclosed.
The quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship will all be shown on ESPN.
The top four conference champions will receive byes in the first round. The quarterfinals will kick off on Dec. 31 with the Fiesta Bowl at 7:30 p.m. New Year’s Day will begin with the Peach Bowl at 1 p.m., followed by the Rose Bowl at its traditional 5 p.m. slot, and the Sugar Bowl at 8:45 p.m.
The semifinals are scheduled for the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9 and the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10, both starting at 7:30 p.m. before the championship game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
ESPN will release its schedule for most bowl games on Thursday.
