College Football Playoff plans to stick with New Year's Eve

Published Jan. 8, 2016 4:17 p.m. ET

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SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (AP) College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock says he does not anticipate any changes being made the next season's schedule when the semifinals will again be played on New Year's Eve.

Television ratings for the semifinals dropped about 36 percent from last season when the first College Football Playoff games were played on New Year's Day. The first game kicked off at a time when many people are at work and the second went up against New Year's party plans.

Hancock says one year ''does not make a trend'' and playoff and ESPN officials need to study the data to determine how much of the decline was caused by when the games were played.

New Year's Eve falls on Saturday this year.