Will NBC, Peacock Land a College Football Playoff Game?
The CFP is expanding its playoffs to 12 teams in the 2024-25 season, and NBCUniversal reportedly wants a playoff game of its own.
The 2023 college football season is in full swing, and there are already some big surprises out there. The Colorado Buffaloes spring to mind, but the Washington State Cougars are opening eyes as well, sitting at 4-0 this year. In fact, the entire Pac-12 is playing great football this year, which only shines the spotlight on the fact that the conference is dissolving after the current season.
It’s fair to say that 2024-25 will be a transformative year for college football for many reasons. One of the biggest is the fact that the College Football Playoff is undergoing a big expansion, growing from four to 12 teams that are eligible to vie for a national championship. ESPN holds the rights to all of those new games initially, but starting in 2026, they will be spread across multiple networks. Front Office Sports reports that NBCUniversal was one of the media companies that expressed interest to the CFP last week in acquiring the rights to future playoff games.
NBC did not comment directly on that reported interest, but FOS cites an interview it held last week with NBC Sports President of Acquisitions and Partnerships Jon Miller in which the executive states his channel has held “conversations” with the CFP about landing a playoff game. Presumably, such a game would be streamed simultaneously on Peacock, just as NBCU does with Notre Dame and Big Ten college football games, as well as NFL “Sunday Night Football” broadcasts.
“I think the College Football Playoffs are a very unique, exciting package,” Miller told FOS. “The expansion obviously brings a lot more attention and focus to the sport in December and January.”
Until this season, Notre Dame Fighting Irish games were the only college football available to stream on Peacock. But that changed in a big way when NBCU agreed to be part of a massive rights deal with the Big Ten, and this year’s matchup between Notre Dame and the Ohio State Buckeyes in Week 4 drew 10.6 million viewers on linear NBC. That made it the second-most-watched college football game in the channel’s history.
The company could have stiff competition from other media firms with streaming platforms. Amazon isn't done pursuing live sports rights by a long shot, and Apple is always on the hunt for a new sporting event to stream; the latest report indicates that the company is sniffing around Formula One racing. Apple was also the leading candidate to land the Pac-12's rights before that conference melted, but the company’s interest in the CFP may not be as robust since it wouldn’t be the exclusive home of the playoffs and would have to share games with other outlets.
Peacock already carries a huge array of live sports, including all of the college and professional football mentioned above. The service will stream every single event of next year's Summer Olympics in Paris live, and it has designs on a package of NBA games when that league’s rights come up for sale following the 2024-25 season. By that time, NBCU may have secured a College Football Playoff game for the service as well.
Peacock
Peacock is a subscription video streaming service from NBCUniversal that includes original shows, blockbuster movies, and classic television series. Peacock is home to “Yellowstone,” and “The Office,” as well as original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports including NFL, MLB, WWE, Olympics, Premier League, NASCAR, French Open, College Football and Basketball, and PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.