A football feast awaits you this Saturday, including three College Football Playoff games and a premier NFL doubleheader.

Much has already been said about the circumstances of the busy schedule. College football supporters are upset that the NFL would dare schedule such high-profile matchups on a Saturday – a day traditionally reserved for college games. Meanwhile, NFL fans point out that the league has been scheduling games on this Saturday for decades, and just this year college football needed that day to accommodate its extended playoffs.

Both sides have valid arguments, but one thing is certain. For fans who want to see both, the current arrangement is not ideal.

How exactly did this happen?

When plans were made for the expanded CFP in 2022, the schedule committee decided to schedule three first-round games on Saturday, knowing that the NFL traditionally schedules games on that day. It was an odd move considering the two companies have traditionally worked together to align planning in the past.

That move angered NFL executives, who then tried to convince the CFP to move one of their three Saturday games to Friday. In this scenario, two CFP games would be played on Friday and two more would be played on Saturday along with the two NFL games. Reporting this summer revealed that the NFL has already shown a degree of respect for the CFP by deciding to forego a third game in prime time on Saturday, as is typical for the league, and instead just to schedule two afternoon games.

Had the CFP moved a game from Saturday to Friday, the two companies might have been able to create a schedule that would allow fans to see most, if not all, of every single game, both professional and college. Instead, two CFP games face each other almost directly across from the NFL games. SMU-Penn State begins at 12:00 p.m. ET, with Texans-Chiefs an hour later at 1:00 p.m. ET. Then Clemson-Texas is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. ET, Steelers-Ravens begins at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Not only will direct NFL competition suppress the potential audience for these CFP games, but the channels on which the games are played will also have a significant impact. Both CFP afternoon games will air on TNT after the network entered into a sublicensing agreement with ESPN earlier this year. Conversely, both NFL games are broadcast on broadcast channels (NBC and Fox), providing greater reach than their cable television counterpart.

The NFL broadcast presence on a Saturday is atypical. Traditionally, the league broadcasts these Saturday games at the end of the season on its cable channel NFL Network. The decision to broadcast Saturday’s games on NBC and Fox would apparently signal that the NFL is trying to send a strong signal to the CFP to stop encroaching on its territory.

A convincing NFL win in the ratings would certainly help that message get across, which makes for an interesting reality on TNT.

The sublicensing agreement between TNT and ESPN gives the company two first-round CFP games per season through 2028 and two additional quarterfinal games per year beginning in 2026. ESPN can choose exactly which games TNT gets under the contract. This year, the decision was obvious: give TNT the two games that directly compete with the NFL. This is obviously not ideal for TNT, which paid nine figures for these games.

A similar standoff between the CFP and NFL could easily occur next year, which begs the question: Should TNT hope for poor ratings this season to ensure CFP schedules centered around the NFL in the future?

It’s not as crazy as it sounds. With four years left on this sublicensing agreement, it would be pretty disastrous if TNT were to broadcast games in the shadow of the NFL every season. But if this year’s TNT games come back with weak ratings, it’s hard to imagine the CFP wouldn’t change its schedule for next season and try to avoid the NFL behemoth. This could prove fruitful for TNT in the long run if they manage to secure windows without NFL competition in future seasons.

The worst-case scenario for TNT would be a string of mediocre ratings that would lead the CFP to believe they can compete directly with the NFL when in reality they can’t. If I’m a TNT executive and I’m expecting Saturday’s viewership, I’m betting on either great ratings that show the CFP can draw a huge audience despite NFL competition, or really abysmal ratings that force the CFP to do so would like to change their schedule next year.

Whatever the case, Saturday’s football viewership will be one of the most interesting ratings stories of 2024. Without a doubt, these numbers will have an impact on where the games land on the schedule in 2025.