The College Football Playoff sided with its teams over its media partner when it came to deciding on a Sugar Bowl start time, according to a sports media insider.
Wednesday’s suspected terror attack in New Orleans led to the College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup between Georgia and Notre Dame at the Sugar Bowl to be postponed to Thursday. The rescheduling had some twists and turns.
The game’s postponement was originally reported and announced as a 24-hour postponement, which would have made for another 8:45 p.m. ET kickoff. Later Wednesday, however, Thursday’s kickoff time of 4 p.m. ET was officially announced.
Puck’s John Ourand, formerly of Sports Business Journal, shared Friday that ESPN wanted to air the game in primetime, but the network was ultimately overruled by the CFP.
Interestingly, ESPN even had the green light to move up the kickoff time of the Gator Bowl. The game in Jacksonville between Ole Miss and Duke had a scheduled kickoff of 7:30 p.m. ET.
The Playoff calendar posed an issue. In the CFP bracket, the Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl are paired for the semifinals. Penn State won the Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday night.
Georgia and Notre Dame raised concerns with a Thursday primetime kickoff, as the winner was looking at getting out of New Orleans in the early morning hours of Friday, falling further behind on PSU prep.
“Ultimately, CFP decided on a 4 p.m. ET kickoff based on feedback from the teams, security, and law enforcement,” Ourand stated.
While this was certainly a ratings disappointment for ESPN, ratings were not the main concern for this year’s Sugar Bowl.
[H/T Awful Announcing]College Football Playoff overruled ESPN on Sugar Bowl start time, per report Saturday Down South.
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