ACC Commissioner John Swofford and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey yesterday agreed that there should "eventually be further discussions" about scheduling the CFP semifinals on New Year's Eve, according to Heather Dinich of ESPN.com. Swofford said, "It's something we do need to take a look at. ... Whether it will be adjusted down the road, I don't think that's imminent by any means, but at the same time we need to take a look at those things and the last thing you want to ever do is to ... put your head in the sand and not acknowledge issues that might or can be corrected." Sankey said, "There's a learning experience to be had, but there's a course set, to be clear. I don't want to equivocate that the focus has been on playing those games on New Year's Eve" (ESPN.com, 1/10). Meanwhile, CFP Exec Dir Bill Hancock said that patience "was needed for the playoff system to grow." Hancock: "Our expectation might have been too high on expecting an immediate cultural change on New Year's Eve. But I also think over time that holiday will become different, and football will become more ingrained in it" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 1/11). GRIDIRONNOW.com's Tony Barnhart wrote one way to move the CFP semis to New Year's Day would be to ask the Sugar Bowl to move to New Year's Eve "on years it does not host the semifinal." Under that scenario, one semifinal game "could be played" at 1:00pm ET on New Year's Day and the other "would be in prime time after the Rose Bowl," which has a 5:00pm start. Sankey tried to "put a diplomatic answer" when asked about that scenario." But his response was "still 'no.'" Sankey: "We have an important and meaningful relationship with the Sugar Bowl that our fans care about. We have a direction that is set and given that direction, that answer would be ‘no’” (GRIDIRONNOW.com, 1/10).
MISSED OPPORTUNITY? ESPN's Brent Musburger said of CFP semifinals being played on New Year's Eve, "Their effort to turn New Year's Eve around is going to fail. ... It's a horrendous mistake for the college football playoff.'' In Dallas, Tim Cowlishaw wrote the CFP's "next misstep came this past week." Cowlishaw: "Wouldn't you have loved to watch the championship game between Alabama and Clemson Friday night?" Instead, they "don't square off" until tonight. Any buildup in the final days "leading to the championship game gets swallowed up by four NFL wild-card games on Saturday and Sunday" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 1/9). ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit said, "You can tell by the ratings that the American public definitely didn't necessarily jive with the New Year's Eve games. You can make an argument, well, the games weren't necessarily that competitive. I think even if the games were competitive, I think we would have seen a noticeable difference in the ratings from the first year to the second year" (SI.com, 1/11).
FOUR SCORE: In Oklahoma City, Berry Tramel writes any support for expanding the CFP "does not come from the leadership," as Sankey yesterday "strongly endorsed the four-team format." Sankey: “My view is that we're in the right place. I've consistently said four is the right place" (OKLAHOMAN, 1/11).
