r/CFB • u/CrashB111 Alabama Crimson Tide • Iron Bowl • 1d ago

News [Matt Hayes] The SEC willingly flushed its conference championship game that last year had better ratings than all eight first round CFP games of the brief, 12-team era.

https://x.com/MattHayesCFB/status/2111056779366785054
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u/i_run_from_problems Boise State • Christian Brothe… 1d ago edited 1d ago

We're not just doing this for money

We're doing it for a shitload of money!

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u/Pinewood74 Air Force Falcons • Purdue Boilermakers 1d ago

No, we're not. Net $155M is fucking peanuts when you really think about it. Not even $3M on average per P4 school.

And that's only accounting for the CCGs.

Still need to deduct the bowl game losses. And I wouldn't be the least bit shocked if late season matchups lose some juice.

And I also think that ESPN is vastly overestimating the interest level in these first round matchups. I don't think Georgia Tech vs BYU is really pulling much national audience when everyone is expecting the winner to get clobbered on the road by Georgia.

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u/yesacabbagez UCF Knights 22h ago

Because it is about the money, but its money you don't see. It might be a wash cash wise on TV/bowl games, but making the playoff is going to be a drive for boosters. Schools can point to the playoff as a tangible thing they accomplished. Making a bowl is cool, but boosters always want more, especially at high levels. Conference championship games can only have 1 winner. Look at the Big ten since they went to a CCG vs their nonsense champion ties. 1990 had 4 Big Ten conference champs. Winning a conference is cool, but not winning is bad.

Playoff expansion gets a couple more big ten/sec schools into the playoff. I means those schools will be able to drive booster donations easier. Anything they lose on bowl/CCG money they will get back by being able to point to making the playoff as proof they just need more money from boosters.