• by Fern Siegel , January 2, 2024

Most of the ad inventory for the College Football Playoffs on ESPN has been sold, reports Disney.

The four teams that played New Year's Day were Michigan, Alabama, Texas and Washington. Now, Michigan and Washington will face each other Jan. 8 in Houston.

Disney/ESPN is in the 10th year of a 12-year multibillion-dollar deal for the CFP.

Of the 15 official ad partners for the CFP, 13 have had a presence for multiple years and scatter buys are relatively limited, Deidra Maddock, VP, sports brand solutions, Disney Advertising, told Deadline.

ESPN reports $3.6 billion in ad revs for fiscal 2023 — and college football is a big piece of the pie. On social media, college-football content registered a 7% increase in average daily unique users over 2022 levels, per measurement firm EDO.

Another boost for the sport is viewership.

In November, the Michigan vs. Ohio State game on Fox drew 19.1 million viewers. ESPN+ also posted record numbers in 2023, with unique viewers up 3% YoY.

A rise in viewership and sponsorship means college football will a bigger field of playoff teams in 2025 onward — from four teams to 12.