College Football Playoff News & Highlights - ESPN (2024)

FAQs

How many viewers watched the National Championship game in 2024? ›

Just over 25 million viewers in the United States tuned into the NCAA college football national championship in 2024.

The exclusive home of the CFP since its inception in 2015, ESPN has expanded its current package through the 2025-26 season, adding all four games of the new CFP First Round each year to ESPN's existing New Year's Six games (now Playoff Quarterfinals and Playoff Semifinals) and the CFP National Championship.

ESPN confirms US$1.3bn-a-year deal for every College Football Playoff game until 2032 - SportsPro.

Same network, new questions as ESPN extends College Football Playoff deal. , a six-year extension worth a reported $1.3 billion annually announced last week, is a monumental moment for the sport and one that should bring stability to an enterprise that has been engulfed in chaos for the better part of three years.

Georgia, which has won two of the past three national titles, tops the list with an overall rating of 95 and is closely followed by Ohio State and Oregon, which have ratings of 93.

In contrast, the victory of the men's Division 1 UConn Huskies over Purdue averaged 14.82 million on TBS and TNT.

After being left out of the 2023 College Football Playoff, the Georgia Bulldogs sent a huge message to the college football world. After a heartbreaking loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Georgia Bulldogs were controversially left out of the College Football Playoff and placed at the No. 6 spot in the country.

Instead, student-athletes are "paid" through athletic scholarships that usually cover part of their tuition. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) operates under the amateurism model, prohibiting student-athletes from being compensated beyond scholarships and other benefits.

Who profits from College Football Playoff? ›

Under the new CFP arrangement, Big Ten and SEC members are set to each receive about $21 million annually, according to multiple reports, while ACC programs get approximately $13 million and Big 12 members $12 million. Notre Dame, which is independent, is expected to receive roughly $12 million as well.

As of the 2021-22 season, each conference receives $6 million for each team selected for a semifinal game and an additional $4 million for each team that plays in a non-playoff bowl under the College Football Playoff. However, there is no additional payout for the National Championship Game itself.

In the wake of the 1984 Supreme Court ruling that broke the NCAA monopoly, ESPN immediately began airing regular season games live, starting with a contest between Pittsburgh and BYU on September 1, 1984. The network aired a 48-game package that year. ESPN2 began broadcasting live games in 1994, ESPNU began in 2005.

The College Football Playoff and ESPN have agreed to a new six-year, $7.8 billion contract that ensures the network will remain the sole media rights holder of the event through the 2031-32 season, it was jointly announced Tuesday.

ESPN Plus essentially broadcasts all games that aren't big enough, or don't make the list of ESPN's main networks for broadcast. For example, there are tons of non-conference games this season featuring SEC and Big 12 teams like Auburn, Baylor, Kentucky and more.

The 2024 Men's March Madness championship game was contested between the Connecticut Huskies and the Purdue Boilermakers. The Huskies emerged victorious with a 75-60 victory in a match that was watched by an average of over 14.8 million viewers in the United States.

The College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T scored 25 million viewers, with the Michigan/Washington showdown recording the best audience since the 2020 CFP National Championship (Clemson/LSU in Year 6).

The women's Final Four games averaged 7.17 million and 14.42 million viewers, with the latter game (Iowa vs.

3 UConn and No. 1 Iowa saw its record as the most-watched women's basketball game stand for roughly 40 hours after scoring 14.4 million viewers. The matchup peaked with 17.3 million viewers and is ESPN's most-watched basketball game (men's or women's, pro or college) on record.