The first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff will begin with first-round games on Dec. 20 and conclude with the title game in Atlanta a month later, it was announced Wednesday.
Four first-round CFP games will be played on December 20th and 21st. ABC and ESPN will broadcast the game on Friday and Saturday nights with an 8 PM ET kickoff, while TNT will air the afternoon game on December 21 at 12 PM and 4 PM. The afternoon games feature two NFL games: Houston-Kansas City at 1 p.m. and Baltimore-Pittsburgh at 4:30 p.m.
“I think it would be great for the NFL and college football to coexist on that day,” said Mike Mulvihill, Fox’s president of insights and analysis. “I think both events will be well received.”
The four first-round games to be played on college campuses are scheduled to be announced on December 8. TNT owns two games through a sublicense with ESPN.
ESPN’s $7.8 billion deal with the CFP, announced in March, allows ESPN to sublicense its 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 a first-round bye. The quarterfinals begin at the Fiesta Bowl on December 31 at 7:30 p.m. New Year’s Day begins with the Peach Bowl at 1 p.m., followed by the Rose Bowl at 5 p.m. and the Sugar Bowl at 8:45 p.m.
The semifinals are the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9 and the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10. Both events begin at 7:30 p.m., with the championship game taking place in Atlanta on January 20.
ESPN is expected to release most of its bowl schedules on Thursday.
