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No sport in America has more drawing power than the NFL, and though the behemoth has usually strayed away from competing against college football for television viewership, a pivotal showdown in December may awaken a collaborative partnership or spark a new war for ratings and dollars.
The long-awaited expansion of the College Football Playoff this fall sets the stage for the first-of-its-kind battle on a Saturday afternoon in late December, with games of consequence in both the college and professional leagues scheduled for head-to-head competition on major national television networks: two first-round CFP games on TNT against two NFL matchups on FOX and NBC.
Such a battle has mostly been avoided by the NFL and college football thanks to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which dictates the NFL avoid televising games from Fridays at 6 p.m. through midnight Sunday starting on the second Friday in September through the second Saturday in December. Outside that window, lower and mid-tier bowl games have pushed against the NFL with little success. The CFP’s foray into the NFL schedule provides the stiffest competition yet for the league — and network executives are anxious to see how it unfolds Dec. 21.
“I think it will be fine for the NFL and college football to coexist on that date,” Mike Mulvihill, Fox president for insights and analytics, told the Associated Press recently. “I think both events will rate just fine.”
It’s also plausible – and expected — viewership will not be nearly as high had the two organizations scheduled their games on separate dates. History shows the biggest loser will be college football. The NFL has dwarfed the NBA and MLB on head-to-head dates. NFL viewership was 10 times higher than the NBA on Christmas Day last year. The World Series purposefully avoided the NFL’s highest-rated television window on Sunday night in 2022 for the first time.
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Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-playoff-first-round-games-vs-nfl-week-16-shaping-up-to-be-tvs-biggest-heavyweight-fight/
Author : Brandon Marcello
Publish date : 2024-06-24 16:46:04
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