NFL Schedule Release Pits The League Against College Football Playoff Once Again, Which Hurts The Fans

Once again, the NFL has decided to go head-to-head with the College Football Playoff, as schedules are starting to be released for the 2025 season. 

FOX Sports announced on Monday that the network will host an NFL doubleheader, featuring the Packers versus the Bears and the Eagles versus the Commanders, which should obviously draw another round of huge ratings. 

But, it's the decision by the NFL to go up against the College Football Playoff that has fans asking whether it's worth it to try and diminish the collegiate product. On December 20th, the CFP is scheduled to have a triple-header, which last year featured two games on TNT Sports, and one game on the ESPN networks. 

Don't forget that both ESPN and TNT Sports put together a ‘megacast’, with games shown on multiple channels. In terms of ratings, the most-watched game was the Tennessee versus Ohio State matchup, which garnered 14.3 million viewers. The second-highest rated game was the Friday night broadcast of Notre Dame versus Indiana, which had 13.4 million viewers, and was the closest game from a score standpoint. 

As for the NFL, they won the day when it came to eyeballs on their product. The Texans-Chiefs game had an average of 15.5 million viewers, which was on NBC. For the second game, the Steelers-Ravens brought in an average of 15.4 million viewers for FOX. 

The College Football Playoff on-campus afternoon slate paled in comparison on TNT Sports, as the Penn State-SMU game only drew 6.4 million viewers, while the Texas-Clemson matchup had a respectable 8.6 million. 

It's All About The Money, For Both The NFL And College Football Playoff

So, while I understand what the NFL is doing when it comes to selling advertisements, there are fans of the sport of football wondering why the league is so hellbent on going up against the college football product. Now, sure the CFP could've changed their dates, so that they would not go up against the NFL, but having college football games on a Saturday is a sacred tradition. 

But, we've also seen a shift from the NFL in recent years, where ‘Black Friday’ games are no longer just for college football. Sure, there have been Thanksgiving games from the college side, but clearly the NFL is looking to take over, which is absolutely their right to do, especially with the amount of money the league gets from these networks, or streaming platforms. 

The problem is that there seems to be no wiggle room, which is like a thorn in the side for college football executives hoping to have Saturdays to themselves. On the other hand, what would the NFL be expected to do when the college football playoffs move to sixteen teams? More games that most likely take up two full days, not just one. 

This is where things start to get tricky for CFP executives, considering that they will have to take this on the chin moving forward, which also affects a network like ESPN trying to sell a few games to someone like TNT Sports. Sure, Turner Sports would take the ratings, especially if it's in the same ballpark as the 8.6 million viewers who tuned into the Clemson-Texas showdown. 

Imagine if both of these entities figured out a way for there to be a standalone day for each during the month of December. You certainly wouldn't be asking fans to make a decision about which game they choose to watch, and it might actually help the ratings for both. 

But, as we've seen in the past, the NFL and college football are hellbent on having a ratings war, when it could be avoided in some form or fashion. 

When the CFP decides to have a 16-team format, hopefully the smarter people in the room can come together and avoid a television battle. You're only hurting the fans that want to watch both.