No sport in America has more drawing power than the NFL, and though the behemoth has usually strayed away from competing against college football for television viewership, a pivotal showdown in December may awaken a collaborative partnership or spark a new war for ratings and dollars.
The long-awaited expansion of the College Football Playoff this fall sets the stage for the first-of-its-kind battle on a Saturday afternoon in late December, with games of consequence in both the college and professional leagues scheduled for head-to-head competition on major national television networks: two first-round CFP games on TNT against two NFL matchups on Fox and NBC.
Such a battle has mostly been avoided by the NFL and college football thanks to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which dictates the NFL avoid televising games from Fridays at 6 p.m. through midnight Sunday starting on the second Friday in …