Georgia fans are one of several groups of people who have the luxury of expecting to see their team in the College Football Playoff every year, and with the expansion to 12 teams two years ago, scheduling the games for fan-friendly viewing has become even more of a challenge.
You'd think in the third year of the 12-team playoff era the suits gathered around the conference room would have a better grasp on how to make the playoff schedule good for fans and -- more importantly -- good for the players.
That's what we get for thinking. This year's schedule was just released and at first glance most fans will probably give a "wait, what?" double-take.
NEWS: The CFP, ESPN and TNT Sports have announced dates, kick times and broadcast information for the 2026-27 edition of the College Football Playoff.
— CFP (@CFBPlayoff) June 1, 2026
🔗 Read more at https://t.co/woIFWrQKbE#CFP pic.twitter.com/R8a2cQWYcZ
The first thing that jumps out is the networks. If there was one thing that you could at least count on in the past, it was that the playoff games would be broadcast on the family of ESPN and ABC channels, because if nothing else, the worldwide leader knows how to set up and present a big college football game.
But it seems this year, in an effort to recoup some of the millions ESPN spent on becoming the home of the CFP, they are sub-licensing some of the broadcasts to TNT, HBO Max, and TruTV (NCAA basketball fans will be familiar with this setup).
While ESPN will still essentially produce and run the broadcast of the games, the simulcast on stations that some streaming services don't carry (e.g., FuboTV doesn't carry any of the Turner stations) will cause a scramble for a lot of fans to watch their teams.
An even deeper look at this scheduling abomination reveals that two of the games -- the Dec. 19 late-afternoon and primetime games -- will be directly competing with the NFL, going head-to-head with Seattle vs Philadelphia and Chicago vs Buffalo.
So much for staying in your lane.
The new CFP schedule is just priming the pump for an expanded field
There's even more to dislike. This year, they've opted to put a two-week break between the quarterfinals and the semifinals, so winning quarterfinal teams will have from Jan. 1 to Jan. 14 to get nice and rusty. Then there's another 10-day layoff between the end of the semifinals and the championship game.
In all, the 2026-27 College Football Playoff will eat up 39 days of the calendar, stretching it from 30 days in the two previous seasons with 12 teams.
It's clear that this lengthening of the schedule is a way to mentally prepare fans for an expanded playoff field, which will start pushing the national title game into February before long. This is nightmarish for all involved except the networks.
At its best, this schedule smacks of no vision. At its worst, it screams incompetence and greed. But should we really expect anything less?
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