Btw everyone, let's cut through all the bull.
Never forget this when dealing with people: everyone has an agenda (themselves usually) and people are experts at NOT SAYING WHAT THEY REALLY MEAN.
Example:
"What will make the ratings go up is DIFFERENT TEAMS than same ole, same old in the playoffs."
What They Actually Mean:
"I'll tune in to watch if my school ever makes it."
This is not 1966 any longer for anyone who has not accepted that. If you LIKE college football now, great. And if you do not watch it now EXPANDING THE PLAYOFF isn't going to magically turn you into a fan, either. The days of "we can make more fans care about our product" are long gone. (And btw - that role, unlike in 1966, is filled by this little successful enterprise known as the National Football League).
Let's consider this: in 2019, LSU had their best year in damn near a decade, a Heisman winning QB, an SEC unbeaten champion, beat Alabama, made the title game. Their ratings against Clemson? 1% higher than the 2018 Clemson blowout of Alabama. "This new team" added 308,000 viewers - and I'd be willing to bet you all 308K of those viewers were: a) people in the state of LA who didn't watch the previous years games; b) people who were from LA and living somewhere else; c) a few hangers-on who suffer from the dreaded "Bama fatigue" who were just happy it wasn't the fifth installment of Ali vs Frazier.
Here's your viewership numbers
CFP FINAL BY YEAR
2021 - 22.6
2020 - 18.7 (Covid year)
2019 - 25.6
2018 - 25.3
2017 - 28.4
2016 - 25.3
2015 - 26.2
2014 - 34.6
SEMI-FINAL RATINGS (MILLIONS OF VIEWERS - AVG)
2014
Alabama-Ohio State 28.3
FSU-Oregon 28.2
2015
Alabama-Michigan St 18.6
Clemson-Oklahoma 15.7
2016
Alabama-Washington 19.3
Clemson-Ohio St 19.2
2017
Alabama-Clemson 21.5
Georgia-Oklahoma 26.9
2018
Alabama-Oklahoma 19.1
N Dame-Clemson 16.8
2019
LSU-Oklahoma 17.2
Clemson-Ohio State 21.2
2020
Alabama-Notre Dame 18.9
Ohio State-Clemson 19.1
2021
Alabama-Cincinnati 16.7
Georgia-Michigan 17.2 (down 10% from the previous COVID year of Ohio St-Clemson)
Note: 2021 are the lowest ratings EVER for a CFP semifinal. Yes, even lower than the Covid year.
So...
1) Clemson contends for the first time in 30 years - a NEW TEAM, right - and their very first playoff game with OU is STILL the lowest rated semi-final of all-time.
2) Washington contends for the first time and draws a bit better than Sparty did the year before - but note the Sparty game was on Friday night, not Saturday (both games were on 12/31)
3) When Clemson plays Ohio State or Alabama - THEY DRAW!!! And they drew for the title game though I'd argue that's because of LSU. But when Clemson plays anyone else, the ratings are low.
4) Oklahoma clearly doesn't draw very well, either. They have the lowest (on average) ratings here. Yeah, they drew with Georgia ON A NEW YEAR'S DAY ROSE BOWL GAME that went to overtime. And given point 5, how much credit should OU even get?
5) Georgia is CLEARLY a ratings draw, too.
6) If "new teams" are the draw then why did Michigan and Cincinnati draw worse numbers than Washington did or Michigan St did? The ratings went down despite the fact the previous year's ratings were no doubt affected by Covid.
7) Ohio State is clearly a draw, too.
8) Oregon is also - slap me silly - a draw as well.
If NEW TEAMS IN THE PLAYOFFS are the key then why do the new teams - INCLUDING Notre Dame btw - draw so badly?
If people want teams in the playoffs "other than Alabama or Georgia or Clemson or Ohio State," why don't they watch games that don't involve those teams then?????