ESPN's CFP National Championship Sees Viewership Figure Drop 23% In Year Two

ESPN finished with 25.68 million viewers for Alabama's win over Clemson in Monday night's CFP National Championship, down 23% from 33.4 million viewers for Ohio State-Oregon matchup last season, which remains the most-viewed program in cable TV history. The viewership this season also is down from Alabama's win over Notre Dame in the BCS title game on ESPN in '13 (26.38 million), but up from the net's Alabama-LSU title game in '12 (24.21 million). The Alabama-Texas BCS Championship on ABC in '10 drew 30.78 million viewers, with that game airing on a Thursday night. Despite the sharp drop this year, the Alabama-Clemson game ranks as the sixth-best audience in cable TV history. ESPN has now aired the eight most-viewed cable TV programs all-time, and 17 of the top 20. When including the Megacast elements across other ESPN linear nets, Alabama-Clemson drew 26.18 million viewers, down from 34.15 million last year. On WatchESPN, the "Spidercam" production was the most the most popular (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

WATCH & LEARN: SI.com's Richard Deitsch noted ESPN during its coverage "provided a glimpse of what it does best -- innovation." The Megacast, now in its third year, "continues to offer one of the most viewer-friendly experiences in all of sports." Deitsch wrote he found himself "gravitating" to the "Finebaum Film Room" on SEC Network and the Megacast’s "perennial star," the coaches’ "Film Room" on ESPN2." The Paul Finebaum-led show "lagged a bit behind the game in real time, but the conversation and analysis between Greg McElroy, Booger McFarland and Arkansas coach Bret Bielema was so sharp and interesting." Producers Pete Watters and Brad Buchanan, along with director Joe Santagata, "made their company look very good." Florida coach Jim McElwain and South Carolina coach Will Muschamp "were the standouts of the coaches’ room." It was "refreshing to watch a broadcast that was truly an extended conversation between people who weren’t actively trying to perform." Meanwhile, the negatives for "Film Room" were that many viewers "complained about the size of the game screen (that’s an annual complaint) and, unless Brian Griese or Chris Spielman mentioned a given coach by name, it was not always clear who was speaking." Where that paradigm "did not work as well was in the Megacast options featuring traditional on-air talent." Deitsch: "When I watched the 'ESPN Voices' option on ESPNews, I saw Jay Bilas about to answer a Twitter question when the show suddenly cut to break" (SI.com, 1/12).

WISH LIST: In Phoenix, Dan Bickley writes of the CFP, "No more playoff games on New Year's Eve, please." The "entire point of a playoff is to create a narrative, a journey, an emotional investment in the sport's pinnacle event." Last year's Duke-Wisconsin NCAA men's basketball final "drew nearly three million more viewers than Monday's football game," which should "raise a few red flags" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 1/13). In Baton Rouge, Scott Rabalais wrote the Rose Bowl "isn’t going to budge from its New Year’s afternoon kickoff, and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said his conference and the Big 12 want to keep the Sugar Bowl right were it is on New Year’s night with a strong lead in from the Rose." ESPN "wanted this season’s semifinals on Jan. 2, which is something that should be strongly considered when the semis aren’t in the Sugar and Rose, as they will be again" after the '17 season. Whether the major conferences behind the CFP "can be pressured into such a move doesn’t seem likely now," but people "used to say that about a playoff, too" (THEADVOCATE.com, 1/12).

NO NEED FOR EXPANSION: SPORTS ON EARTH's Matthew Leach writes Monday's title game is a "great argument for why four is exactly the right number of teams in the playoff." Leach: "More teams, and we might not have gotten the two best squads playing for the big prize. Fewer teams, and we might not have gotten such a sensational game." Four is the "right number, and while it seems likely that it's only a matter of time before the playoff expands, four is where it should stay" (SPORTSONEARTH.com, 1/13).