The unofficial online home for fans of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

John Ourand
@Ourand_SBJ
· 14m
CFP Semis
16.1 million for Bama-Cincinnati
16.5 million for Georgia-Michigan

Last year
18.9 million for Bama-Notre Dame
19.1 million for Ohio St.-Clemson


Whoever came up with the idea of having the CFP on a Friday, New Year's Eve instead of Saturday on NYD should be put down. People are out at parties, having dinner, etc. Ratings could have easily surpassed last year.

All that being said, I am guessing that is the largest number of people ever to watch a UC game in any sport. Awesome exposure for our beloved Bearcats and the university.

You might be right about the day the game was played. But NYE festivities shouldn't have impacted a 3:30pm game. However, a lot of people still work on NYE day as opposed to NY day.

IMO, the biggest reason for the difference are the schools. OSU and ND. Two of the biggest fan base/most watched teams in the country. That's why the CFP committee heavily leans in their favor in the rankings.

(01-04-2022 11:12 AM)Cat-Man Wrote:  You might be right about the day the game was played. But NYE festivities shouldn't have impacted a 3:30pm game. However, a lot of people still work on NYE day as opposed to NY day.

IMO, the biggest reason for the difference are the schools. OSU and ND. Two of the biggest fan base/most watched teams in the country. That's why the CFP committee heavily leans in their favor in the rankings.

I don't actually think so, maybe a little. If you look at history NYE semi finals have consistently done substantially worse ratings than the NYD semifinals.

A decent number of people were at work during the UC game. I was fortunate to be off (initially i thought i'd be at work too)

(01-04-2022 11:12 AM)Cat-Man Wrote:  You might be right about the day the game was played. But NYE festivities shouldn't have impacted a 3:30pm game. However, a lot of people still work on NYE day as opposed to NY day.

IMO, the biggest reason for the difference are the schools. OSU and ND. Two of the biggest fan base/most watched teams in the country. That's why the CFP committee heavily leans in their favor in the rankings.

Just for comparison.

the 2015 Orange Bowl was a NYE Semifinal between Clemson and Oklahoma. It kicked off at 4:00. It drew 15.7 million viewers.

2016 Peach Bowl was a 3pm kickoff between Bama and Washington it drew 19.34 million. (the year after the NYD kickoff drew 21.5 million).

2018 Cotton Bowl was Clemson Notre dame drew 16.8 million viewers.

2019 Peach Bowl LSU Oklahoma drew 17.2 million viewers (Back on New Years day the next year those ratings were back up around 19 million).

(01-04-2022 11:17 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(01-04-2022 11:12 AM)Cat-Man Wrote:  IMO, the biggest reason for the difference are the schools. OSU and ND. Two of the biggest fan base/most watched teams in the country. That's why the CFP committee heavily leans in their favor in the rankings.

I don't actually think so, maybe a little. If you look at history NYE semi finals have consistently done substantially worse ratings than the NYD semifinals.

I'd imagine it may be a combo of both. I heard that the previous Bama-UGA final was one of the more poorly rated. CFB doesn't have a lot of problems but one of it's issues is it's power programs are limited to the southeast and midwest. It would benefit substantially from a rejuvenated USC program plus another program in the western half of the country.

Last year, alot of people were too afraid to go out and party because of Covid. A lot more NYE parties this year and people going out unlike last year where people were @ home and watching TV.

Having the games on NYE definitely hurts. I don't think it had anything to do with brands -- Michigan and Georgia are easily top ten fan bases, and the Cinderella story of Cincinnati was probably enough to make up for our more modestly sized fan base. A lot of people don't realize, for instance, how popular Michigan still is. Despite the lack of success over the past 15-20 years, they still have more fans than anybody outside of maybe Texas, OSU, and Alabama. Georgia is right up there too.

(01-04-2022 11:17 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(01-04-2022 11:12 AM)Cat-Man Wrote:  You might be right about the day the game was played. But NYE festivities shouldn't have impacted a 3:30pm game. However, a lot of people still work on NYE day as opposed to NY day.

IMO, the biggest reason for the difference are the schools. OSU and ND. Two of the biggest fan base/most watched teams in the country. That's why the CFP committee heavily leans in their favor in the rankings.

I don't actually think so, maybe a little. If you look at history NYE semi finals have consistently done substantially worse ratings than the NYD semifinals.

It really hasn't when you look at it. There are only 2 other years when played on NYE where you can compare. It's all over the board when you look at the rest. But both those NYE years out drew the games this year.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college...tings-bcs/

In 2020 ND and OSU in the semi finals were almost even to the NC game, which also included OSU. OSU drew 28 mil in 2015, 19 mil in 2016 (New Years Eve) semi final games. Pretty high numbers for semi final games.

The outlier is Notre Dame in 2018 which had a pretty low rating considering the game wasn't on NYE or NYD.

One thing is for sure. The numbers this year are off the norm.