TNT to air CFP games via sublicense with ESPN

ESPN and TNT Sports have reached a five-year agreement for TNT Sports to sublicense select College Football Playoff games from ESPN starting this season, the networks announced Wednesday.

TNT Sports will present two first-round CFP games during the 2024 and 2025 seasons. In addition to the first-round games, TNT Sports will add two quarterfinal games each year, starting with the 2026 season through the 2028 season. TNT will be the primary network televising the sublicensed CFP games, among additional TNT Sports distribution platforms.

ESPN will show all other CFP games on its networks, including the national championship game. ESPN will also continue to manage the sponsorship program for the presentation of the CFP.

“We’re delighted to reach this agreement with ESPN, providing TNT Sports the opportunity to showcase these College Football Playoff games on our platforms for years to come,” TNT Sports Chairman and CEO Luis Silberwasser said in a statement. “TNT Sports aims to delight fans and drive maximum reach and engagement for these marquee games.”

The CFP will expand from four to 12 teams this fall and include the five highest ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams. The four highest ranked conference champions will earn the top four seeds and first-round byes.

The first-round games will be played Dec. 20-21 on the home campus of the higher seed, with teams seeded 5-8 hosting teams seeded 9-12.

“ESPN is pleased to sublicense to TNT Sports a select number of early round games of the College Football Playoff, an event we’ve helped to grow — alongside the CFP — into one of the preeminent championships,” said Rosalyn Durant, ESPN executive vice president, programming & acquisitions. “We’re confident in the reach and promotion that this new agreement will provide as we enter the new, expanded playoff era.”

This year, the CFP quarterfinals will be hosted by the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (Dec. 31), the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Jan. 1), the Rose Bowl Game (Jan. 1) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl (Jan. 1). The Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowls will host the CFP semifinals, and the national title game is Jan. 20 in Atlanta, Georgia.

“It is exciting to add TNT Sports, another highly respected broadcaster, to the College Football Playoff family,” CFP executive director Bill Hancock said in a statement. “Sports fans across the country are intimately familiar with their work across a wide variety of sports properties over the past two decades, and we look forward to seeing what new and innovative ideas they bring to the promotion and delivery of these games.”