PARDISE VALLEY, Ariz. — Executive Director Bill Hancock says he does not anticipate any changes in regard to moving the national semifinal games from New Year’s Eve next year, despite the major drop in viewership from last year’s to this year’s two games.

Clemson’s Orange Bowl victory over Oklahoma drew 15.6 million viewers on New Year’s Eve, while Alabama’s win over Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl drew 18.5 million. Last year’s two playoff games drew 28 million viewers each.

“I do not anticipate any changes for next year,” Hancock said on Friday. “Saturday (New Year’s Eve) and the year after that we go back to New Year’s Day and then the year after that will be on a Monday, on what will be a four-day weekend so we need to evaluate how that will play in.”

In an article written by John Consoli on Broadcasting Cable.com on Friday, he reports ESPN owes upwards of $20 million in ad makegoods for ratings shortfalls for the two semifinal games.

“ESPN may have gotten a bit greedy when setting its ratings estimates and offering higher guarantee levels to advertisers for the two games, knowing audiences might not flock to their TV sets, despite the optimism of the CFP committee. However, advertisers are concerned about next season’s potential audience levels for the games, which will also be televised on New Year’s Eve. Even if the ratings guarantees by ESPN are set lower, advertisers would prefer the games be moved to New Year’s Day or even on consecutive primetime nights, exclusive of New Year’s Eve, when more people would likely watch.”

“We have not talked to the advertisers about it,” Hancock said. “That is something ESPN will be working on. I saw the same report, but that was really the first I heard of it. If we came across as dismissive, we certainly did not mean to.”

Hancock says he was surprised when he first saw how the rating dropped from the first year of the playoffs to the second year.

“I thought they might have been down a little bit, but they were down more than I anticipated,” he said. “But we have to remember we had these non-competitive games. We know what the factors were.”

Hancock said he was told on the phone on Thursday Star Wars was a factor, though the movie was released nearly two weeks before the New Year’s Six Bowl Games were even played.

“People introduce new factors all the time,” Hancock said. “This guy said, ‘The Force was not with you, Bill.’ The fact of it is we got a little unlucky with the non-competitive nature of the games.

“We are just going to have to look at it over the months ahead, but again, we just do not anticipate any changes.”