This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The college football playoff semifinals will be played at inconvenient times on New Year's Eve — when tens of millions of American are either (a) at work, or (b) celebrating the holiday somewhere other than at home in front of the TV.

It's just plain stupid that the Orange Bowl (Clemson vs. Oklahoma) kicks off at 2 p.m. on Thursday. It's equally stupid that the Cotton Bowl (Alabama vs. Michigan State) follows at 6 p.m.

Both games are on ESPN, but the Worldwide Leader is utterly blameless in this. It's not television's fault at all.

ESPN is as much a victim of this stupidity as the fans. The villains are the arrogant people who run the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC.

A year ago, they finally gave us a college football playoff. You could argue that four teams are not enough; you could argue about whether the best teams were selected.

But you can't argue with the first playoff's huge success. The two semifinals — Oregon-Florida State and Ohio State-Alabama, played the afternoon and evening of New Year's Day — pulled in 28.2 and 28.3 million viewers, respectively, making them the two most-watched programs on cable TV to that point. Ever.

They were knocked down to No. 2 and No. 3 on the list when the Ohio State-Oregon national championship game drew 33.4 million viewers.

Why mess with success? Why not play the semifinals on New Year's Day again?

Because college football doesn't care about fans. And the people behind the College Football Playoff actually believe that they are so powerful that they can change people's behavior.

That's not hyperbole. I'm not exaggerating.

In response to inquiries about this stupid move, College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock actually said, "We're establishing a new tradition. We're going to change the paradigm of New Year's Eve."

Think about that for just a moment. Hancock and the people pulling his strings at the Power Five conferences believe they have the power to change the way Americans celebrate the holiday. That they can pre-empt New Year's Eve celebrations.

Apparently, they believe they can change work schedules for the millions of Americans who have to be on the job on the afternoon of Jan. 31.

Clearly, there were alternatives. And not just the obvious one — shifting the bowls around so that the Orange and Cotton bowls would be played on New Year's Day.

College football's priority is not the fans, however. Their bigger priority was protecting the Rose and Sugar bowls' New Year's Day time slots.

And the blame for that lies with the Pac-12 and Big Ten, which want to protect the Rose Bowl; and the SEC and Big 12, which want to protect the Sugar Bowl.

So in two out of three years, the semifinals will be played inconveniently on New Year's Eve.

ESPN, well aware that the chances of this year's semifinal ratings matching last year's are slim to none, tried to convince the CFP to shift the Orange and Cotton bowls to Jan. 2. Not only is that a Saturday, but there are no NFL games scheduled, so college football could have the day to itself.

The CFP said no … because they're determined to change America's New Year's Eve traditions.

Yes, it would have required shifting the Taxslayer, Liberty, Alamo and Cactus bowls … but, gee, college football's Powers That Be are convinced that New Year's Eve is a great time to schedule games.

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.