Once again, the third weekend of December will be football overload.
As many will recall, last year, the third weekend of December featured two high-profile NFL games and a College Football Playoff tripleheader. This year, it’s looking more like the same.
On Monday, Fox Sports announced it will exclusively air an NFL doubleheader on Saturday, December 20. This is the same day that the College Football Playoff will presumably play three first-round games, barring a schedule shift from last year’s layout. Fox will air a doubleheader featuring the Philadelphia Eagles against the Washington Commanders and the Green Bay Packers against the Chicago Bears.
The decision reinforces the NFL’s strategy to claim that Saturday, the first that falls outside of its federally restricted period. Traditionally, the NFL has held games on the third Saturday in December without much competition from college football. That changed last season when the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams, necessitating an earlier start.
Controversially, the College Football Playoff decided to compete head-to-head with the NFL last year. Viewership numbers for those games were pretty lackluster, as one would expect when competing against the NFL.
Before last year, the NFL urged the College Football Playoff to schedule two first-round games on Friday and two on Saturday, a format that could presumably make room for both properties with minimal conflict. It’s unclear whether the playoff committee will heed that advice this year or continue with the 1-3 split between Friday and Saturday games in the first round. However, if early reports indicate anything, it likely isn’t happening this year.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.