There has been much criticism in recent weeks about the scheduling for the College Football Playoff, and .While the inaugural College Football Playoff semifinals aired on New Year's Day, the games are scheduled for New Year's Eve in eight of the next 11 seasons. That includes this upcoming season, when the Cotton and Orange bowls are set to play host.ESPN expects New Years Eve to be a drag on next years numbers, with that the network is privately prepared for double Drew Lock T Shirts -digit drops in viewership.According to the report, the network is lobbying College Football Playoff officials to move next years semifinals to Jan. 2. The concern over lower ratings is not unfounded; this past season, the three New Years Eve bowl games each earned their lowest rating in several years.The Orange Bowl had DeShawn Williams Jersey a 5.0 rating, . The Fiesta Bowl drew a 4.6, .The Peach Bowl, a perennial New Years Eve game, with a 3.4 though that was primarily due to a shift from prime time to the afternoon.Given those numbers, it is no surprise that ESPN wants changes. Despite pre sure from the network, however, the CFP has no plans to move next years games. Officials are committed to keeping the current New Years Eve and New Years Day tripleheaders in hopes of continuing what executive director John Elway T Shirts Bill Hancock called a new tradition, per SBJ.Establishing a college football tradition on New Years Eve would go a long way toward overcoming the depre sed viewership a sociated with the holiday (and that was the expectation in this writers ). The difficulty will be getting to that point. Judging by this years numbers, getting viewers to stay home en ma se for New Years Dennis Smith Jersey Eve bowl games may take a few years.Of course, even if the semifinals were to move to Jan. 2 or somehow stay on New Years Day the numbers would be hard pre sed to match last year. The Rose Bowl (14.8, 28.2M) and Sugar (15.2, 28.3M) bowls , topping the previous four BCS championship games. A confluence of factors led the strong numbers, including the novelty of the playoffs and the high-profile nature of participants Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State and Oregon. Those will be difficult to replicate next season, regardle s of the schedule.Paulsen is the founder of Sports Media Watch and Jerry Jeudy T Shirts a contributor for Sporting News. Follow him on .