FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Last year at this time, Bill Hancock was confidently but nervously anticipating the first four-team playoff in big-time college football.
Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, needn’t have worried. The games — featuring Alabama and Ohio State, Florida State and Oregon — were an attendance and ratings hit.
As he anticipates the second year of playoffs, which begin Thursday with semifinal games in Miami Gardens, Fla., north of the media headquarters here, and in Arlington, Tex., Hancock is equally confident but not nearly as nervous.
“Last year, we thought it was going to work, but we didn’t know for sure,” he said Tuesday.