New Year's Eve football is a go this year.
Conference commissioners denied a request by ESPN to move the College Football Playoff semifinal games away from Dec. 31 to another date.
"We reviewed it and rejected it," Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told ESPN. "We like the concept that we've developed for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Going forward we think that's the right model for college football."
In the first year of the College Football Playoff, the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl hosted the two semifinal games on Jan. 1. However, those two bowl games will remain in their traditional New Year's Day time slots while the semifinals rotate among the Peach Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Cotton Bowl over the next couple years.
Because New Year's Eve falls on a Thursday in 2015, many television executives at ESPN were worried about casual fans not being able to tune in because they have to work. Sports Business Journal reported that the network had submitted a formal request for the CFP's management committee to move the semifinals to Jan. 2, 2016 (a Saturday).
"The first consideration for our group is the prominence we put on taking back New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and putting the most meaningful games on those two dates," ACC commissioner John Swofford told ESPN. "We look at this as a 12-year period, and to get away from the effort to consolidate the biggest games on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, to move away from that in the second year, I'm not sure feels right to the collective group."
The Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl are slated to host the upcoming season's College Football Playoff semifinals, with the championship game coming at the site of Super Bowl XLIX, University of Phoenix Stadium. The Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl are then slated to host the 2016 College Football Playoff semifinals on New Year's Eve before the semifinals return to New Year's Day the following season when the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl host them again.
Given the firm stance taken by those in charge of the College Football Playoff, it appears one better start saving a vacation day for the end of the year if getting off work to watch football might be an issue.
You can follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.
