A lot of controversy has been sparked after this year's dreadful experience in the College Football Playoff semifinals. Not only were both games mediocre for those watching, but not as many people watched compared to last year, with the ratings going down 34-percent in comparison.
One of the big reasons the semifinals cannot be moved off of New Year's Eve for most years is that the Sugar Bowl is flat-out refusing to move off of New Year's Day. It appears that the driving factor behind that refusal is the SEC, as SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has commented that the conference has no intention of playing the bowl game on another day.
Via CBS Sports:
"We've got an important and meaningful relationship with the Sugar Bowl over time that the Big 12 and SEC worked to establish a contract and an agreement that that's when that game would be played. That is important to us. I think it's clearly important to our fans. It was important to the Oklahoma State and Big 12 fans who were in New Orleans. We're going to protect that tradition."
While Sankey does have some obligations to protect agreements that his conference has, posturing like this from his conference and the Big 12 really does not help anyone. If the ratings continue to tank for the Playoffs on New Year's Eve, that is just less money for everyone involved.
Come on, guys. This playoff thing is a pretty cool concept; stop trying to screw it up.
