ESPN to Televise 35 Bowl Games During the 2018-19 College Football Postseason

• Exclusive Coverage of the New Year’s Six
• College Football Playoff Semifinals at Capital One Orange Bowl and Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on December 29
• College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T Concludes the Season on January 7, 2019

ESPN will televise 35 bowl games, including all 14 of ESPN Events’ owned and operated contests, over 17 days beginning in December and concluding on New Year’s Day, once again establishing itself as the home for postseason college football.  The industry-leading slate will set the table for the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T which will cap the season on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, (8 p.m. ET) from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Bowl Season Kicks Off December 15
The college football bowl season begins with five games on Saturday, Dec. 15: the Celebration Bowl (noon) and the Las Vegas Bowl (3:30 p.m.) will both air on ABC, with the Gildan New Mexico Bowl (2 p.m.), the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl (5:30 p.m.) and the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (9 p.m.) in a triple-header on ESPN. The slate will continue with games in prime time on Dec. 18, 19 and 20, a double-header on Dec. 21 and a quadruple-header on Dec. 22.

New Year’s Six Begins on Saturday, December 29
Following Christmas, ESPN will feature triple-headers on three consecutive days (Dec. 26-28) before airing three New Year’s Six games Dec. 29 – the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (noon), the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl (4 p.m. or 8 p.m.) and College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (4 p.m. or 8 p.m.).

College Football Blankets New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
ESPN rings in the New Year with eight games spread across New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, including a triple-header on the final day of 2018 and three New Year’s Six games on Jan. 1, 2019: the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl (1 p.m.), the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual (5 p.m.) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl (8:30 p.m.).

Last Season’s College Football Playoff  Viewership Drew Historic Numbers, New Year’s Six Set a New High
Last season, ESPN hit new heights with its college football postseason viewership, as the College Football Playoff National Championship drew 29,932,000 viewers and the College Football Playoff Semifinal at The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual delivered 28,311,000 viewers becoming the second and third most watched cable telecasts ever, respectively, trailing only the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship on ESPN. The network’s entire presentation of the New Year’s Six plus the CFP National Championship averaged 17,906,000 viewers, the most-watched in the system’s four-year history.

ESPN’s 2017-18 Bowl Slate Averages More than 6 Million Viewers, New Multi-Year High
ESPN’s entire 2017-18 college football postseason schedule, consisting of the same 35 bowl games plus the CFP National Championship, averaged 6,079,000 viewers a game, ESPN’s most-watched college football bowl season in at least eight seasons.

ESPN’s 2018-19 Postseason Schedule 

Please note: All bowl names, dates, and networks subject to change.
The College Football Playoff National Championship is not considered a bowl game. 

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Media contact: Derek Volner at 860-384-9986; [email protected] and @DerekVolner