This week, an ongoing conversation regarding the expansion of the College Football Playoffs has reached its culmination. In 202,4 the playoff field expanded from four to 12, giving more teams the opportunity to compete for a national championship. But there are many major conversations about whether the play should expand further.
Heading into January 23rd, there are conversations regarding expanding the field to 16 teams. There’s even been a push by the Big Ten to expand the field to 24 teams. But lost in the talk of team participation is the issue of game scheduling. If the College Football Playoff were to expand more, it would have to start a week earlier. That would cause a very interesting problem.
On the second Saturday in December, Army-Navy plays its annual rivalry game. The game is a staple of college football and typically has its own weekend. But the expanded college football playoff already pushed games to that day. In 2024, the Celebration Bowl, the national championship of HBCU football, was moved to the second Saturday of December, largely due to the College Football Playoff expansion. A further expanded college football playoff could take viewership and attention away not just from Army-Navy but also from the Celebration Bowl. If anything, the Celebration Bowl stands to see more harm in the case of an expanded playoff.
Enter Donald Trump, the president of the United States. He announced on his Truth Social platform that he’s signing an executive order meant to “protect” the second week of December for Army-Navy. But the implementation, specifically without Congress, makes no sense.
Media companies are private businesses. An executive order can’t make a private business do anything. Congressional action to create legislation that would then become law, signed by the president, would be the real way to “protect” the weekend for Army-Navy. The Sports Broadcast Act of 1961 protects high school football and bars NFL games from being broadcast on Friday evenings during the season. That’s a law that still affects the NFL’s business to this day. So, how would an executive order alone press these private media entities in any way? Only legislation can do that.
And, ultimately, it doesn’t solve the diagnosed issue. If the answer is competitive balance and fewer teams that are “snubbed”, 16 teams is the answer. But in my HBCU-educated opinion, I don’t think that the 12-team playoff is a bad thing. It’s just college football decision-makers creating a problem to solve. But then we look at what a 16-team playoff can actually do to a game like the Celebration Bowl. John Grant, the executive director of the Celebration Bowl, has consistently stated that the goal of the game is to be at the start of bowl season.
His aim is to capitalize on the attention and lack of a real sports competition that the early Saturday game at the start of bowl season provides. An expanded college football playoff is a real threat to that goal, as it is to Army-Navy. But the true threat to the Celebration Bowl lies in the broadcast window it would be allowed to exist in, as well as its ability to draw the support of non-native HBCU football fans with significant competition for CFP games.
Would the Celebration Bowl be relegated to ESPN from ABC to free up an early afternoon spot for a college football playoff game? I don’t think that’s a far-fetched idea, given ESPN’s penchant for airing an afternoon game after College Gameday concludes. If that were to occur, it would have a drastic impact on viewership. If anything deserves policy. The Celebration Bowl deserves an executive order.
On December 20th, the first Saturday of the College Football Playoff, ABC aired the CFP quarterfinals matchup between Miami and Texas A&M at 12 PM EST. The FCS Playoffs matchup between Montana and Montana State aired at 4 PM on ABC, but was up against the Ole Miss vs. Tulane game on TNT (as an ESPN sublicense) and the Eagles vs. Commanders game that kicked off at 5 PM EST that afternoon on Fox. Imagine the impact on the Celebration Bowl’s numbers in that scenario, if the Celebration Bowl were even able to get that ABC spot in lieu of another quarterfinal game that afternoon.
Meanwhile, Amry-Navy wouldn’t see the same fate. While CFP games would affect viewership, they would still draw somewhere near their typical viewers because they would continue to have a broadcast home on CBS. Plus, there’s a built-in audience thanks to the matchup’s legacy and prestige. And even without political pressure, there can still be real conversations between Paramount and Disney/ESPN to schedule the game appropriately. Both the Army & Navy are still FBS at the end of the day.
But HBCU football, once again in this conversation, is forgotten about and could be relegated to the sidelines. But we’re used to it at this point. I have faith that no matter what, the celebration bowl will adjust to whatever is thrown at it. But I think we should actually send her a real problem, and who would really be affected by the college football playoff expansion.
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