With just one game to go to close out the 2024-25 college football season, we’ve seen enough to call it: The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff has been an undeniable success.
There are minor issues that need to be addressed or tweaked, but the overall format change has been a net positive for the sport. More teams were in Playoff contention throughout the final month of the season than ever before, which meant more meaningful games played each Saturday down the stretch. College football still got its usual, spirited debate about which teams should get the final spots in the bracket. And there were 11 CFP games instead of three at the end of the season — with four of those games played in electric campus environments.
Interest in the sport has been strong all season long, with 11 regular-season games topping 9 million viewers. First-round CFP games averaged 10.6 million viewers, the quarters averaged 16.9, and the semifinals (played on Thursday and Friday nights) averaged 19.2. With Monday night’s national championship matchup featuring two of the bluest of blue bloods in Notre Dame and Ohio State, the title-game audience is also expected to be massive.