College Football Playoff semifinals won’t be played on NYE after 2017 regular season

Executive director Bill Hancock and the College Football Playoff are giving back New Year’s Eve.

After a save-the-date for 2016, when the CFP semifinals will be played on New Year’s Eve for the second consecutive year, Hancock announced the new plan effective after the 2017 regular season is to play those games only on Saturdays and holidays, including New Year’s Day.

“We had healthy discussions with a lot of people who love college football and we concluded that making these changes would be the right thing to do for our fans,” Hancock said. “We tried to do something special with New Year’s Eve, even when it fell on a weekday. But after studying this to see if it worked, we think we can do better. These adjustments will allow more people to experience the games they enjoy so much. For these four years, our previous call is reversed.”

After the 2017 regular season, CFP semifinal games scheduled to be played at the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl are to be played Monday, Jan. 1, 2018. After the 2018 regular season, the CFP playoff semifinals are to be played Saturday, Dec. 29 at the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl.

When Dec. 31 falls on a Saturday, as it does in 2016, the games will still be played on that date per the new rule.

Ratings bombed in 2015 on New Year’s Eve and ESPN was able to recoup advertising investment dollars because of the poor performance with fans.

Hancock previously held firm to the idea of making Dec. 31 the permanent date for CFP semifinal games and as recently as April said there was no plan to move the games.

But pressure mounted, and particularly from advertisers, to push the games back a day or more to accomodate fans who traditionally reserve Jan. 1 for college football and the night before for social gatherings.

In 2020 and 2021, the games are scheduled to be played on Saturday, Dec. 31.