The first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff will begin with a first-round game on Dec. 20 and conclude with the title game a month later in Atlanta, it was announced Wednesday.
The four first-round CFP games will be Dec. 20 and 21. ABC and ESPN will televise the games on Friday and Saturday nights with 8 pm EST kickoffs, while TNT will have the Dec. 21 afternoon games at 12 pm and 4 pm with Houston-Kansas City at 1 pm and Baltimore-Pittsburgh at 4:30 pm. will play against pairs.
“I think it would be good for the NFL and college football to coexist on that date,” said Mike Mulvihill, Fox president for insights and analytics. “I think both events will rate well.”
The four first-round games, which will be played on college campuses, will be announced on December 8.
ESPN’s $7.8 billion deal with CFP, announced in March, allows it to sublicense games to other networks. Financial terms of the sublicense have not been announced.
The quarterfinals, semifinals and championship will be broadcast on ESPN.
The top four conference champions will receive first-round byes. The quarterfinals begin with the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. New Year’s Day will begin with the Peach Bowl at 1 p.m., followed by the Rose Bowl at its traditional 5 p.m. location and the Sugar Bowl at 8:45 p.m.
The semifinals are the Orange Bowl on January 9 and the Cotton Bowl on January 10. Both have a 7:30 pm start time before the championship game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
ESPN will announce its schedule for most bowl games on Thursday.
