The big question: Fans want to expand the college football playoff from 4 teams to 8, but how much more revenue would it generate?
Quick math #1:
1) ESPN pays $608M per year
2) 3 games are currently played
3) ESPN pays ≈ $200M per game
4) 7 games would be played in the expanded field
5) If $200M/game held, then an additional round of 8 would generate $800M in additional revenue
Quick math #2:
1) ESPN subscribers — 86M
2) Annual cost to air college football playoff — $608M
3) ESPN is paying $7.15 per year for each subscriber to watch the college football playoff
4) That breaks down to $2.38 per game
Interesting thought: If ESPN chose to keep the rights for the entire playoff, then would they move one of the games to ESPN+ to drive subscriber growth?
Flashback #1: Return to New Year’s Day, Classic Rose Bowl, Boost CFP Overnights
Flashback #2: Big Ten TV revenue distribution reaches an insane $51 million per school
