The College Football Playoff (CFP) which will determine the college football national champion (No. 2 Oregon or No. 4 Ohio State) will be broadcast Monday, January 12 at 8:30pm. ESPN says the game at AT&T Stadium might be “cable television’s biggest audience ever.” Of course ESPN says that–the game will be broadcast on ESPN! The network reportedly paid about $7.3 billion over 12 years for the rights to the College Football Playoffs. That’s about $608 million per year.
But even Ohio State coach Urban Meyer thinks there’s more buzz in the air this year: “Our players can say they played in the first College Football Playoff national title (game) … The Sugar Bowl was incredible, and this [CFP] is even ratcheted up a little bit more.” (This year, the Sugar Bowl hosted one of the semifinal matchups.) Adweek backs the sentiment of Meyer by predicting: “Only the Super Bowl, the NFL playoffs and the Oscars will likely tower above college football in the TV ratings game for the remainder of the year.”