As most of know, and have briefly discussed here, the college football playoff saw 40ish percent drop in viewership, compared to last year. This year's playoff games were played on New Years eve, last year's were not. Many people saw this coming, but the college football playoff chose ignore it. For some reason, I find this whole situation enthralling, so I put together a quick survey together to poll TKP readers on their 2015 College Football viewing habits. I'll report back with stats in a few days or so.
Anyways, Stew Mandel and Bruce Feldman interviewed Bill Hancock after the numbers were released, and asked some pretty good questions:
Some highlights I found interesting:
- Hancock thinks the low ratings were the result of a combination of things: Game time, less teams with national interests and less competitive scores.
- Hancock does not want to rush to conclusions - emphasized that they are currently gathering information that won't be analyzed until after the national championship AND that they will continue to analyze trends over the next few years before making any changes to the schedule
- Listeners were reminded that the Rose & Sugar bowls both signed contracts with ESPN for New Years Day before the CFP had even decided a playoff format
- Bruce tried to discuss the hypocrisy of protecting the Rose Bowl's NYD tradition while trying to 'force' a new tradition on the viewers. Hancock and Bruce disagreed on this.
UPDATE: Survey Results
So, little did I know how limited the free survey monkey feature was... there were 133 responses, but I can only see the first 100, and I cannot see the correlation between stats (ie, how many 21-25 year old had a conflict preventing them from watching game). Anyways... here's a link to the stats. Some things that stood out to me:
- 36 of the first 100 people surveyed missed part or all of game 1 due to a conflict.
- 43 of the first 100 people surveyed missed part or all of game 2 due to a conflict.
- 32 of the first 100 people surveyed watched most/all of game 1 intently, compared to only 5 people(!) who watched all/most of game 2
Comments
Done and good use of the "community"
great idea on the survey. i watched the last 3 quarters of the clemson game because it started while i was still at work and watched the first half of the bama/msu game. i also had little interest in the new years day games because the playoff games took place the night before. I really preferred the playoff games being on new years day instead of new years eve.
Great call on the survey. I talked to some folks at work about this who are generally in the baby boomer generation who said they watched bits and pieces due to New Years Eve plans and another said they went out and didn't watch. I watched the first half of the first game then played Guitar Hero, had friends over, ate dinner, played more Guitar Hero, played Cranium, watched the ball drop, and finished cranium. So I guess for me those things were worth missing the games over.
With that being said, I guess I'm a bit of a traditionalist in that I HATE the Peach Bowl being at noon on NYE. One of my favorite traditions is the Peach Bowl lead up to the ball drop. But I also hate how ESPN has started spreading the bowl games out and not overlapping any, so then you're stuck with a bad game. I get it, but I don't like it haha.
Survey did not have options for; Did not watch because I do not have cable and refuse to pay.
I watched most of the Clemson game, and then we had the Alabama scrimmage on in the background.
I watched half of the Clemson game as we got back late from a "happy noon year party" (for the kids) and saw only the first quarter of the Bama massacre as the wifey and I may have had a few too many adult beverages at said kids party and post party and we may have passed out early...
Nooners...
They'll get after ya.
I think people are sick and tired of seeing Alabama in there every damn year. I know I am
Absolutely and even if they lost two games the commitee would still want them in the finals. Might as well just put them in the final four every year.
Alabama gets in because they deserve it. You may not like their style of play, or that they have been college football royalty for the last 7 years. But they earned it, they have a really cool defense, they do some things that pretty much nobody else does (or can do) with some pseudo 2 gap stuff (I'm far from an expert, but from what I can tell they play an interesting mix of one and two gap responsibility and have found great success this year). They kind of made the 3-3-5 over their base front because of spread teams and didn't drop off in run defense. Personally, I enjoy watching Bama, they were what I always wanted Virginia Tech to become, and personally, I enjoy watching a more classic smashmouth team still winning in the age of the spread, and I have always loved watching excellent defense.
"Winning" I mean they have lost to Ole Miss, Texas A&M, anOSU, Auburn, Oklahoma, SC in that time. It seems they lose a lot when playing non SEC style teams. 5-3 under Saban in postseason play.
They don't lose games to "non SEC" style teams (which doesn't make sense given the variety of offenses in the SEC) they lose games to good teams, like any other good team does from time to time. That was a talented Ole Miss team that just trashed OK state. A&M with a Heisman winner QB and tons of offensive talent, Auburn team that went to the National championship both times they beat Saban, good South Carolina team in a down year, talented Oklahoma team after perhaps the most disappointing end to a regular season you could imagine with the Kick 6 forcing you to miss out on a shot at the SEC/Natl ship, and a GREAT Ohio State team with ridiculous talent on offense. I don't say that to make excuses for losses, but I hope you realize how ridiculous it is to shame a program for losing to good teams "sometimes."
If those and LSU were the only teams We had lost to since 2009, we would all be VERY happy campers.
Alabama does deserve to be in the playoff. They are a legitimate power and Saban has built an historic dynasty in Tuscaloosa. What really irritates me is that Alabama's stranglehold at the top of the CFB mountain has elevated the perception of the entire league. The SEC was at it's best with Saban and Meyer. That gave the league two extremely well coached and talented teams in different divisions who were extremely tough to beat. That is where this "SEC is the monster conference of the world" narrative spawned from. Saban stayed and, unsurprisingly, Bama is still one of the best teams in the country year in and year out. As a result, the SEC is still held in extremely high regard. Meyer is now with OSU which is now also one of the premier teams in the country year in and year out. If you take Saban and Meyer out of college football the rest of the SEC and the rest of the B1G aren't head and shoulders above all the other leagues. Each league has teams that play well every couple of years but Saban's Tide and Meyer's Bucks are the only really consistent teams in CFB right now. The Alabama Crimson Tide under Saban will go down as one of the greatest dynasties of college football. The problem is that every team in the whole league believes they deserve the same accreditation of Bama. But why? Simply because they're in the same league? Fame by association IMO.
I caught a segment from College Football Live the other day where they were pushing this narrative that Clemson is "SEC-esque" in their talent and program level. Really irritated me. Is Vandy SEC-esque according to those standards? How about UK? Outside of Bama, the rest of the SEC was pretty good to mediocre. They had a very good bowl record this year, but some of those games were complete mismatches. LSU vs Texas Tech? Miss St. vs NC State? Ole Miss had a great win over OK State, but I'm not going to argue that either of those teams are elite.
You are very correct in that the evil empire that is the Saban Alabama dynasty has really skewed the image of the entire conference. Incredibly annoying to say that any team that is really good/championship-caliber is "SEC-esque."
Alabama is an ACC-esque school, I think.
......I just wish they'd start losing
Oh! Believe me! I want them to lose and lose badly as well. As much respect as I have for Saban and what he's done at Alabama I absolutely cannot stand their fans. They are seriously obnoxious!
Are you serious? They've lost 12 games in the past 8 years. Please, find me another team in the last 50 years that was remotely as dominant. You have:
Yes, it's obnoxious how much love Bama gets from the media, but their "winning" is nothing short of a historical feat.
Didn't watch either game because I really don't give a damn about anyone involved.
Normally, this is how I feel. It's like March Madness, I love the first weekend, like the second weekend and watch the Final Four if I have time and rarely watch the Championship game on Monday nights.
I love college football, but once it gets to the Final Four, I generally don't care too much. I saw 0% of last years championship game.
But......because this was on NYE, I watched. Our NYE is pretty lowkey, so this was perfect. It would have been better if the Bama game was better and finished up at 11:50. I'm usually in bed by 12:10 on NYE.
I hope they keep it on NYE.
Was over at friends and we all watched most of the clemson game. The alabama game we started to watch but then it mainly became background noise for us, especially the second half
I watched both games intently because I love the game and these are the marquee games of the entire year. I wanted to see if the top teams from each conference could hold their own or whether the plucky underdogs would find a way to make it competitive.
I learned that MSU and OK overachieved during their conference schedules and that they are built to win their conferences but not robust enough to win it all. I also learned that Stanford really dropped the ball against Northwestern early in the year. I would have watched the FSU Houston game too but I was at work. To me, the scheduling of the Peach Bowl was the only true travesty of the day for an East Coaster like myself.
Throughout bowl season, the only times I've tuned out of games is when they are lopsided combined with teams I don't really care about or who are not good. The Oregon/TCU Alamo Bowl is why this strategy fails sometimes.
Did Stanford also drop the ball later in the season against Oregon...the same Oregon team that MSU didn't drop the ball against early in the season?
Football is about match ups and Alabama was a terrible matchup for Mich St.
Oklahoma, on the other hand, was a fraud. How they were getting love and installed as a 3 pt favorite vs Clemson simply because they got hot against a bunch of teams without their QB is beyond me. At full strength, OU was no better than the 3rd best team in a conference with 4 good teams.
Stanford dropped the ball against NWern.
Stanford lost but did not drop the ball against Oregon.
Reason:
Vernon Adams, Jr. was in his second game ever as the starting QB for Oregon when they lost to MSU by 3.
Vernon Adams, Jr. was in his tenth game ever as the starting QB for Oregon when they beat Stanford by 2.
Stanford was pretty consistent all year long except the WTF against NWern.
Oregon was inconsistent but got better as the season progressed (won their last 6 pre-bowl).
Interestingly, I saw a graphic on Twitter that Peach Bowl viewership was up this year over last.
Houston is a BIG city. And everyone there gets really into the hometown teams, especially in the post season (mostly because we don't really expect much from any of them). That probably played a large part in explaining the ratings, as well as it being way more competitive than last year between TCU and Ole Miss.
I was really looking forward to the NY6 as, on paper, they looked like great matchups. The first half of Clemson-Oklahoma was great and in all honesty, I'm kind of pulling for Clemson. I used to find Dabo kind of irritating, but I respect what he's done at Clemson. Seems like a pretty solid program and their players seem like pretty good guys on top of it. I can admire that.
Bama-MSU was a snoozer. As soon as Bama went up a couple of scores, I tuned out. The game was on, but unless MSU even scored, I wasn't even going to be interested. Too bad, since that should have played out better than it did.
Bill Hancock was also on satellite; it seems every interview he wants to blame the "lack of competitiveness" of the games. I wonder what metric do they use to determine viewers then, since we have no idea how competitive they are until they're played? Does everyone check the score before they turn on the television?
That's a good question - what counts as a 'viewer'? Do you need to watch the whole game? 50%? 5 minutes? If MichSt/Bama was 17-17 with 5 minutes left, you're damn right I would've found a way to watch the last 5 minutes.
I watched the first half of the Clemson game, but only because there was a lull in things going on with the family. Once board games started back up, I had no interest in watching football over spending quality time with people I know.
Most other days of the year, it would have been different. This was not the day to schedule those games, at least if you want me to watch.
I intently watched the first half of the Clemson-OU game. As it started getting out of hand in the second half I was less interested in the game and I started getting ready for our New Years event. The game was still on the TV but I was only half watching.
I did not watch any of the Bama-MSU game because of New Years plans. I can say with confidence now, retrospectively, that I would have watched about 2 and a half quarters before turning it off if it wasn't on NYE.
I think it was a bad move to have those games on NYE because it made it difficult to watch the games for folks who had NYE plans...especially the more casual fans. The hardcore fans and fans for each team would have found a way to watch, though, I'm sure. Scheduling the games on NYE isn't the biggest problem though....
I think the popularity of every game decreases with the addition of more games. The market is becoming super-saturated with football games and there are more games on than most fans care to watch. Your hardcore college football fans who are going to catch the NYE games anyway will tell you that there is nothing wrong with more football games. "Who the heck is going to complain about more football??!?!" Right?... Well, when you overload the market with football it drives the interest down because most fans can only take so much of the constant stream of games. (supply and demand. more games to watch=less football starved fans willing to watch a game featuring teams they care nothing about) By the time the NYE games aired there had already been 30+ football games in about a two week period. If you're not a fan of one of the teams in the NYE games what motive do you have to watch them? You've been able to get your football fix and then some by watching as many of the 30+ games before hand which, for most fans, probably included a game featuring their own team (sorry LOLUVA...not sorry).
I wouldn't call myself a hardcore CFB fan but I'm definitely more invested than a casual fan would be. I tried to watch as much of the NYE games as I could but as hardcore (or, in my case, semi-hardcore) fans we have to realize that not all of the viewers watching the games are as interested in them as we might be. In fact, I'd wager that the hardcore fans are the minority. CFB can't be sustained purely on the hardcore fans alone. It needs to appeal to the casual fans to remain successful.
Also, as it turned out, the match-ups proved to be less than stellar. Nobody really wants to watch blow-out victories by teams they don't care about. I'm sure millions of fans tuned out once the games got out of hand.
I was watching the first game until some people came over, I would have watched more of the Alabama game but we were out and only one of the places had it on.
I dont really know what they were thinking, I mean, the Alabama game was still going on basically up to the ball drop.
Im more surprised that they are surprised the numbers are down...its not like people all of a sudden stopped liking football, who are these teams that they are talking about that would have such greater national presence - it was Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson, and Michigan State, its not like it was Kansas vs Boston College...its almost like having a bowl game in Shreveport, LA... the day after Christmas..........
I watched all of the Clem-OU game quite intently.
Watched some of the Ala-MSU game....found it quite boring, so I played some Destiny down in the mancave instead.
I caught the very end of the Clemson-OU game and bits and pieces of the Bama-MSU game. NYE is a terrible time to have important games. I was driving up to a friends place for a party during the Clemson game and was too busy to watch the Bama game.
At first I was pretty apathetic to having very important games being on NYE when NYD was the perfect time due to it being awesome to recover and watch football. This was due to it being different and it might be a good idea to have them going on in the background at a bar or party. Then I learned it's because of the the freaking Rose Bowl and my blood boiled. That stupid bowl game is up there with Notre Dame in my list of least favorite things about College Football....
I probably would have turned the Cotton Bowl off if it wasn't New Year's Eve. As it was, there weren't any other good options to wait until midnight. I definitely stopped caring once I realized that there was no way Michigan State was going to even score.
Good call on the survey. I actually enjoyed the games being on NYE because it gave me an excuse to not have to spend a ton of money on a ticket to some shitty bar, in order to stand in line all night to get my all you can drink watered down crap... I sound like an angry old man.
Any who, kind of off topic, but I don't know about you, I also have many degenerate friends who enjoy gambling with the best of them. I'm not a gambler, but the benefit of having them as friends is that you watch all big sporting events like someone's life is on the line, or in this case loads of cash. I honestly watched most of, it not all of both games. Gambling makes everything important...the spread, the over/under, prop bets on who is going to score the first points of the 3rd quarter and by what means??? My friends have issues, but it is really fun watching them live and die over a fourth quarter TD scored in a blow out, it's the real life game within the game!
One comment I keep hearing is that the ratings were also down because "the games weren't competitive." I thought the OU-Clemson game was more competitive in the 1st half and turned into a blowout slower than the FSU-Oregon game last year.
And the OU-Clemson game was still down 36% from that FSU-Oregon game.
The competitive argument can only be used for the prime time games featuring Alabama.
I think the argument for the early game is that some people were still at work when it started.
I agree. That's why I don't get why I've heard so many people (including Hancock) use the NYE competitive games (plural) argument to try to explain it. You can't use that argument for the Clemson-Oklahoma game.
Also, look how ESPN tried to spin this into a positive.
http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2016/01/new-years-six-on-espn...
Do ya think that maybe it was because it was on NEW YEAR'S EVE?
I like football, but that's a night when friends of all persuasions get together to do things other than watching football.
Move it to New Year's Day already! We have the day off to watch football.
I think this is probably an area of sharp differences in personal preference. I have gone out and celebrated NYE maybe twice in my entire life. I much prefer to stay in with friends rather than go out and deal with all the chaos. For years, the tradition among my family and friends is actually to stay in and watch whatever football is on, Hokies or otherwise. If I end up going out to a bar (extremely rare), it'll be one where we'll be able to see whatever games are on.
My old tradition was to watch all of the movies I got for Christmas on New Year's Eve, waiting for the ball to drop. I haven't done that in years, though, between work and football schedules. (And also a decrease in movies I get at Christmas, because I'm more likely to buy them throughout the year.)
But I realized the other day that I'll probably never do that again, because of football (or work in the years that the playoffs are on 1/1.)
Lets be honest there are only 3 Christmas movies anyone ever needs.
3. Elf
2. The Claymation Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
1. Die Hard
My theory was that this was largely depended on age (hence my question), but I may be very mistaken
Looking back, I really wish I had include a 'would you have watched the game if it was on NYD question'
Saw the entirety of the Orange Bowl, not one snap of the Cotton Bowl.
The shame is there has been some GREAT Bowls on NYE through the years, that most just don't watch regardless.
The LSU-Clemson and Duke-TAMU CFA Bowls were both recent great games barely anyone saw.
I like the survey, and appreciated the number of options.
As for the general discussion regarding the playoff scheduling and viewership/ratings, I think the concern is somewhat overblown. Certainly, those who chose/had to work on NYE didn't have the option of watching all of the Clemson/Oklahoma game, but I think Hancock is at least partially correct in asserting that the ratings don't necessarily indicate such a steep drop in viewership. (although quantifying that in a way satisfying to advertisers is not easy) I watched most of both games, but not at my own home. I was at my in-laws for the early game and at a NYE party with some friends of Mrs. Brick for the later game. While a lot fewer TV's were clearly tuned into the game, I strongly suspect that there were a lot more viewers per TV than average, due to New Years Eve parties/gatherings.
Also, I completely understand why the Rose Bowl needs to continue to happen on Jan 1. It's tied to the annual parade. What I don't understand is why the other Playoff Bowls can't happen on the same day too. If the problem is too many games on the same day hurting ratings, I don't see why some of the other Jan 1 bowls can't move to Dec 31 to accomodate the schedule.
Sugar Bowl also locked a deal in for January 1. I imagine that's the bigger road block, having two games locked in on January 1.
I still don't understand what was wrong with putting the playoff games on Saturday 1/2? I am yet to get an explanation for this one from anybody.
It's pretty simple. CFP and ESPN didn't want to.
Okay, I stand corrected, it was only CFP that stayed firm in the 12/31 plan. ESPN offered the 1/2 plan.
http://www.si.com/college-football/2016/01/01/college-football-playoff-b...
I realize that they're locked in. I just don't necessarily understand why that can't be moved to accommodate the playoff. The Rose Bowl makes sense to me because it's tied to the Tournament of Roses Parade which has been held every January 1 for about a century now. The Sugar Bowl doesn't, to my knowledge, tie in to another event like that. When VT played FSU in the Sugar for the BCS championship back in 2000, the game was on the the 4th, if I'm not mistaken.
If the Sugar and Rose are going to be locked in to Jan 1, I still don't see any reason why the semifinals can't be played on the same day anyway. If you're going to use a phrase like the "New Years Six" to describe the premeire bowls, why not play them all on New Years Day?
Because the Sugar Bowl signed a contract (before the playoff could) to be played on NYD. Why would they want to reschedule AND take a large financial loss?
They don't need to take a financial loss. The Sugar Bowl will make money whether it's held on Jan 1 or any other reasonable day. They've done it in the past. If the NCAA wanted to, they could tell the SuperDome (or whoever the current contract is with) that they need to accomodate the NCAA's scheduling needs or be left out of the playoff. I'm sure they'd be surprisingly accomodating with such an ultimatum.
I think your overestimating the simplicity of the situation for the Sugar Bowl...
But how much money? Remember that Sugar bowl decided to play on 1/1, every year in 2012 - contract was written then. Consider the following potential situations:
Example: For whatever reason - Allstate (Sugar bowl's main sponsor) has agreed to sponsor a new years day game, their CEO is a little nuts, and dammit, he says "We're going to sponsor a New Year's Day Sugar Bowl no matter what!" Allstate has given a lot of money, all based on this New Year's Day contract - if you cancel that, you're getting sued
It's not that simple. As I explained above, there's a spider web of contracts in place (many of which were already in place before the CFP made their decision). You can't just break a contract in America - there's costs: in legal fees, PR fees, settlements, loss of future business due to product devaluation, and loss of future business due to loss of trust from potential business partners.
This isn't a 5 person family, where one parent can skip a kid's soccer game for logistical reasons, and it's okay - because whatever that parent did benefits the family. This is 5 separate entities each trying to maximize their own utility. And (at a corporate level) that's the difference between the NFL business model, and the CFB business model.
The bottom line is - the CFP was the last of these 'entities' to sign a contract. CFP knew exactly what options were available, and had time to analyze their decision and determine how their decision would affect the viewer. They decided to make a 'new tradition', and right now it's looking like a bad decision. Hancock's right - they should take time to further analyze the numbers, and if this is the best situation for them, then they should do that. But from my understanding of when things were agreed to, and what ESPN was willing to do, the main cause for viewer displeasure lies with the CFP. If they have decided this is the best decision for them - that's fine, but I for one will not spend my New Year's Eve watching more than a quarter of any night game that does not feature VT.
I couldn't agree more. I love watching cfb (including teams other than VT), but NYE is one of those nights that I never plan on sitting in front of the TV watching non-VT football.
I had the Clemson-Oklahoma game on and watched parts of it in between getting things together and getting dressed to head out to a friend's house for a NYE party.
I missed the entire Alabama-Michigan State game because the setup at the NYE party didn't allow for music to be played through the sound system if the TV was on...priority was place on the music since I live in a god forsaken part of the US where no one cares about college football...except for the ones who kind of care about FCS...sigh...
I'm guessing the Granite State is more pumped up about the Presidential Primaries than the College Football Playoff.
Yep, good ol' Slick Willy is making the rounds through the state as we speak on Hilary's behalf.
Missed the first quarter of Clemson-Oklahoma (at work), and then couldn't watch Bama-MichSt because New Years Eve. Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb dumb. So mad at college football.
Didn't miss anything in that second game.
The point was I wanted to watch it, but couldn't because I have a wife and friends and family and stuff. I can't understand why the college football powers that be really thought a few Jimmy Kimmel commercials would trump all of that. I don't even really love new years eve (it's like 8th on my holiday list, I think), but the arrogance of college football is stunning to me.
I thought the selection committee set up the matchups to ensure Alabama would make the championship. The result seems to agree with me.
I watched Clemson until it stopped being competitive and just checked the score of the Alabama game.
#ConspiracyTheory
I was skiing over New Year's. Had planned to catch the end of the Clemson game and watch the Bama/MSU game after getting back from the slopes, but the place we stayed didn't have a TV and the brewery we went to for dinner also didn't have TVs... *sigh* Oh well, seems neither game was all that interesting anyways... I'm definitely watching the Championship game, though!
OK OK so when do we get the survey results?!?!?
Here's the thing. I actually agree with the CFP boss in that there are a variety of factors that contributed to the difference in ratings, and there's no way of knowing exactly how much each factored in.
Next year (2016-2017), New Year's Eve is on a Saturday, so there shouldn't be any scheduling complaints. (The New Year's Day bowls will be on January 2.) For 2017-2018, the playoffs jump back to New Year's Day. (The New Year's Eve bowls will be on December 30, though, since NYE is a Sunday.) And in 2018-2019, New Year's Eve is a Monday, so that's going to be the next time to really see how a "workday" might affect the games.
Last year had the novelty factor working in its favor. This year, the matchups didn't seem as interesting. Plus, as I said above, the Cotton Bowl's ratings might have been improved by being on New Year's Eve, because some of us were locked into watching that. If it was another night, where I wasn't waiting specifically for midnight, I might have gone to bed.
As for me, I work evening shift with rotating days off. Holidays are always a little strange, because they try to be fair. It's easier for me to get New Year's Eve off, because it's not the actual holiday. Last year, I had to make a deal where I came in early on New Year's Day to work on moving files around for the new year, so I was able to be home in time for the Rose Bowl.
That being said, it might not be a bad idea to just have the playoffs be on the Saturday closest to New Year's Day.
Did not watch either game. I just happened to be on swing shift this week and didn't get NYE off, but was fortunate to get NYD off so I could have watched then. Thinking about it, this was just luck of the draw for me, but even on a normal schedule, I'd likely would have been working for part or all of the Clemson game.
I would say besides NYE plans, the large # of TKP readers probably had more invested in the Clemson game/Orange Bowl than they do Alabama or MSU (or the resurrected Cotton Bowl), being ACC and closer to "home" for many.
I watched a few minutes of the Clemson game and none of the Bama game. I had a party in the neighborhood so I did that instead. A different night of the week I would have watched until they got out of control. I watched hardly any football new years day mainly because I had very little interest in a lot of those match ups.
Wanted to see Clemson represent the ACC and I am not a OU fan and did not watch the other game as I knew it would be a stinker as MSU should not have been in that game in MHO.
I watched whatever bowl game was on tv for most of the bowl season, or at least has it on in the back ground. I'm almost 50. We party hop around the neighborhood every New Year we are not still out of town with family for the holiday's. I felt Clemson was much better than OU, and was excited about seeing them show it. I had it on while working in the kitchen to make food to take the first party, rewinding if I missed anything exciting. Stopped watching to get ready when it was out of control. College kids watching downstairs had already changed it to play video games, and high schooler got bored and left. Bama game was on a first party, about 4 of the 50 people (all ages) there were actually watching. Many more watched the Peach Bowl when Duke played A&M at the same party a few years ago. Stopped by the house between parties after the half, kids at the house (high school and college) were not watching. Went to a party where the host were Bama fans who had invited their Bama friends to watch. About 3 people were still into the game (late 4th) with the others being social, and who only stopping talking to toast "Roll Tide" when the 3 still watching cheered loud enough to disrupt the party. Most of these are people who would watch all of every Bama game every week. Execs can't figure out if was date/time, teams or match-ups because it was all three.
Caught 5-10 minutes of air time of each game. Really didnt care at all but my father in law needed a break from whatever other garbage was on TV. Having the game on NYE definitely played a part in my not having any desire to watch the games. Tough to get out of family time at that time of the day and considering how much I usually curse at the TV or am generally too loud for other company during games it was best to not have the games on.
Watched nearly all of the Clemson-OU game, went downtown for NYE and watched the entire MSU-Bama game, wife is an MSU alum. She didn't take that loss very well, not that I blame her.
I understand not wanting these games on NYE. I will watch almost all bowl games anytime, I just feel like the biggest games should be on 1/1. That's what I'm used to.