As the College Football Playoff embarks on an expanded 12-team bracket for the first time, The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC) and Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT Sports) are slated to broadcast games within its first round. While Disney is currently operating under a 12-year deal with the College Football Playoff for media rights set to expire in two more years, it reached a six-year extension with the invitational tournament reportedly worth $1.3 billion per annum. Earlier in the year, ESPN agreed to sublicense select games within the College Football Playoff to TNT Sports under a five-year deal, beginning with two first-round games per year through 2025. ESPN announced its commentary teams for the opening slate of games, which commence on Friday, Dec. 20 and run through the following day.
The opening game of the College Football Playoff between No. 10 Indiana and No. 7 Notre Dame will take place on Friday, Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. EST airing live on ESPN and ABC. Play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough, analyst Greg McElroy and sideline reporter Molly McGrath will be on the call in their second season together as a commentary team. The winner of this game will advance to the Allstate Sugar Bowl against No. 2 Georgia on Wednesday, Jan. 1 at 8:45 p.m. EST, a matchup the trio will also be calling on ESPN.
The lead college football commentary team of play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler, analyst Kirk Herbstreit and sideline reporter Holly Rowe will be calling a game on television during every round of the College Football Playoff. This schedule officially begins on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. EST when No. 9 Tennessee faces No. 8 Ohio State live on ABC and ESPN. The winner of this game goes on to the Rose Bowl for the quarterfinal game against No. 1 Ohio, featuring the same commentary team on Wednesday, Jan. 1 at 5 p.m. EST on ESPN. McGrath will join the broadcast team for the CFP National Championship from Atlanta, Ga. on Monday, Jan. 20 live on ESPN.
TNT Sports will air two first-round games on Saturday, Dec. 21 on the TNT linear television network and Max streaming service. No. 11 SMU faces No. 6 Penn State at 12 p.m. EST with the commentary team of Mark Jones, Roddy Jones and Quint Kessenich. A few hours later at 4 p.m. EST, Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek and Taylor McGregor call No. 12 Clemson facing No. 5 Texas. ESPN will televise the first quarterfinal matchup at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. EST with Bob Wischusen, Louis Riddick and Kris Budden receiving the assignment.
Commentators for the Capital One Orange Bowl and Goodyear Cotton Bowl within the semifinals are still to be determined; however, the company announced that reporters Laura Rutledge and Katie George will each receive a broadcast assignment at this time. In the preceding round, George will work with Joe Tessitore and Jesse Palmer at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Wednesday, Jan. 1 at 1 p.m. EST on ESPN. The company will reveal its MegaCast plans, commentators for ESPN Radio and studio programming surrounding the games at a later date.
ESPN is expanding Inside the College Football Playoff to five episodes and announced that it will premiere on Tuesday, Dec. 17 through the ESPN+ streaming service. The show will feature behind the scenes access, plus contributions and perspectives from ESPN commentators such as Paul Finebaum, Rece Davis, Tim Tebow and Laura Rutledge. This is the sixth season of the ESPN original series, which will conclude on Friday, Jan. 24 with a look at the CFP National Championship Game.
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