The first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff will kick off with a first-round game Dec. 20 and conclude with the title game one month later in Atlanta.
The CFP announced its schedule Wednesday. The four first-round games will be Dec. 20 and 21. ABC and ESPN will televise games Friday and Saturday night with an 8 p.m. kickoff, and TNT will have the Dec. 21 afternoon games at noon and 4 p.m. The afternoon games will go up against a pair of NFL games with Houston-Kansas City at 1 p.m. and Baltimore-Pittsburgh at 4:30 p.m.
OFFICIAL RELEASE: The College Football Playoff has announced dates, kick times and broadcast information for the 2024-25 playoff, the first year of the expanded 12-team format.
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Mike Mulvihill, Fox president for insights and analytics, thinks there will be room to accommodate both audiences. Fox has the Ravens-Steelers game as it goes up against a CFP late afternoon matchups.
“I think it will be fine for the NFL and college football to coexist on that date. I think both events will rate just fine,” he said.
The four first-round games, which will be played on college campuses, will be announced Dec. 8. TNT has a pair of games through a sublicense with ESPN.
ESPN’s $7.8 billion deal with the CFP, which was announced in March, allowed it to sublicense games to other networks. Financial terms of the sublicense were not announced.
The quarterfinals, semifinals and championship will air on ESPN.
The top four conference champions will receive first-round byes. The quarterfinals will begin Dec. 31 with the Fiesta Bowl at 7:30 p.m. New Year’s Day will kickoff with the Peach Bowl at 1 p.m. followed by the Rose Bowl in its traditional 5 p.m. spot and the Sugar Bowl at 8:45 p.m.
The semifinals are the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9 and Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10. Both have 7:30 p.m. start times before the championship game takes place Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
ESPN will announce its schedule for most of the bowl games Thursday.
