During the 2015 College Football Playoff, a lot of people took grief with the dating of the games as the semifinals took place on New Year’s Eve, a Friday. This was because many fans were not home from work in time for the start of the games, especially the first at 4:00 p.m. EST.
The selection committee took action on Thursday when they announced some pretty big changes for the semifinal games over the next decade. The games will now only take place on Saturdays or national holidays, which New Year’s Eve is not usually recognized as by many businesses.
“We had healthy discussions with a lot of people who love college football and we concluded that making these changes would be the right thing to do for our fans,” Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the College Football Playoff announced on Thursday.
“We tried to do something special with New Year’s Eve, even when it fell on a weekday. But after studying this to see if it worked, we think we can do better. These adjustments will allow more people to experience the games they enjoy so much. For these four years, our previous call is reversed.”
The Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl will still take place on Saturday, Dec. 31 this year and the games through 2025-26 will take place on Saturdays or New Year’s Day. The lone exception is in 2021 when the games take place on Friday, Dec. 31.
Here is the full list for the CFP over the next decade:
- 2016-17 Saturday, December 31 Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl
- 2017-18 Monday, January 1 Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl
- 2018-19 Saturday, December 29 Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl
- 2019-20 Saturday, December 28 Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl
- 2020-21 Friday, January 1 Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl
- 2021-22 Friday, December 31 Orange Bowl and Bowl TBD
- 2022-23 Saturday, December 31 Bowls TBD
- 2023-24 Monday, January 1 Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl
- 2024-25 Saturday, December 28 Orange Bowl and Bowl TBD
- 2025-26 Saturday, December 27 Bowls TBD
Now the next question that needs to be answered is if the CFP will expand to add more teams over the next few years.
