We knew that ESPN had sublicensed a few College Football Playoff games to TNT, but we didn’t yet know precisely when those two TNT games would air. Now we do, and it adds to an awareness of ESPN’s media strategy connected to the playoff. You can hate the fact that the College Football Playoff is going head to head with the NFL on Saturday, Dec. 21, but you can see that ESPN is thinking ahead about its plans. The network’s decisions look pretty smart from this vantage point.
It was revealed on Wednesday that the two TNT College Football Playoff first-round games will start at noon and 4 p.m. Eastern on Dec. 21. Why is this notable? It’s because there’s an NFL game between the Houston Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs at 1 Eastern on that same Saturday, and there’s a game between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
ESPN recouped a considerable amount of money by giving TNT two playoff games. Yet, those two games are going up against the NFL. ESPN has an 8 p.m. Eastern time playoff game on Saturday which won’t compete against the NFL. The WorldWide Leader is clawing back some of the money it spent to get playoff media rights, and it is doing so without going directly against the NFL. We can now see a clear strategy for ESPN in its College Football Playoff decisions.
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