College football set its New Year’s Day playoff lineup this weekend as more post season bowl games were cancelled due to concerns revolving around the pandemic.

Top-ranked Alabama will face fourth-ranked Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl and second-ranked Clemson will battle third-ranked Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. The winners will play in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 11. ESPN will air all three games.

The weekend playoffs announcement comes as several other college bowl games were cancelled, as a number of teams from major conferences have chosen not to play in the postseason due to concerns surrounding the pandemic.

ESPN Events Sunday cancelled the upcoming TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl, one of 16 post season college football bowl games now canceled. Currently, 28 bowl games are scheduled to be played beginning tonight (Dec. 21) with the Myrtle Beach Bowl featuring North Texas against Appalachian State.

“We have made the difficult decision to cancel the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl,” said Mark Meadows, executive director in a statement. “As the inventory of available teams lessened, our ability to stage the game was compromised. We will direct our focus to next year’s bowl, and look forward to staging the game in the 2021 season.”

 College football will take a step closer to determining its four-team playoff lineup as several major conferences hold their championship games this weekend. 

On Saturday, top Ranked Alabama will face seventh-ranked Florida in the SEC Conference final (CBS), while third-ranked Clemson and second-ranked Notre Dame battle in the ACC championship game (ABC). The Big Ten final will pit fourth-ranked Ohio State against 14th-ranked Northwestern (Fox), while the Big 12 Championship game will feature sixth-ranked Iowa State and 10th-ranked Oklahoma (ABC). A high-profile, non-conference championship matchup features fifth-ranked Texas A&M and Tennessee (ESPN).  

On the pro football front, two NFL games will air on NFL Network Saturday: The Buffalo Bills will look to secure a playoff spot with a win against the Denver Broncos, while Green Bay will look to hold on to the top spot in the NFC when it battles the Carolina Panthers. The Cleveland Browns will look to clinch a playoff spot against the New York Giants on NBC's Sunday Night Football telecast. 

The NBA will wrap-up its pre-season schedule this weekend with eight games on Friday, highlighted by ESPN2’s Brooklyn Nets-Boston Celtics telecast and ESPN’s Los Angeles Lakers-Phoenix Suns game. On Saturday, NBA TV will televise the Atlanta Hawks-Memphis Grizzlies game. The 2020-21 NBA regular season launches Tuesday with a TNT doubleheader featuring the Golden State Warriors at the Nets, and the L.A. Clippers at L.A. Lakers. 

Read more: NBA Releases TV Schedule for First Half of 2020-21 Season

Sports streaming service DAZN this weekend will feature fights featuring two marquee middleweight champions. On Friday the $19.99 per month SVOD service will stream live middleweight champion Genady Golovkin’s fight against mandatory challenger Kamil Szeremeta; on Saturday, DAZN will feature middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez’s bout against super middleweight champion Callum Smith. That fight will also be offered via pay-per-view through In Demand, with viewers purchasing the fight receiving a four-month subscription to DAZN. 

Read more:  DAZN Steps Into the PPV Ring with Canelo Alvarez Fight 

The TV sports lineup for the first weekend of December will feature some of the top ranked college football and basketball teams as well as a major pay-per-view boxing event. 

College football will enter the final leg of its regular season with several key matchups, including a primetime matchup between top-ranked Alabama and LSU (CBS) and afternoon games featuring fifth-ranked Texas A&M at Auburn (ESPN), fourth-ranked Ohio State (pictured) at Michigan State (ABC), and third-ranked Clemson at Virginia Tech (ABC).

Boxing will once again take center stage in the pay-per-view combat sports ring with Fox Sports’ Errol Spence-Danny Garcia welterweight championship fight. The fight, which will retail at $74.95, will pit two of the top welterweight fighters in the sport.

The NFL will look to complete its week 13 Sunday schedule without any major COVID-19-related postponements outside of moving its Baltimore Ravens-Dallas Cowboys Dec. 3 Thursday Night Football game to Tuesday (Dec. 8) and Sunday's Washington Team-Pittsburgh Steelers games to Monday (Dec. 7.)  NBC’s primetime Sunday Night Football game features an AFC West matchup between the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs.

College basketball will feature an early matchup of top-ranked teams as number one Gonzaga plays second-ranked Baylor Saturday afternoon (CBS), while 12th-ranked Villanova travels to play 17th-ranked Texas (ESPN). 

NBC and NBCSN will continue its coverage of Premier League soccer games on Saturday and Sunday, while ESPN on Sunday will televise the Sakhir Grand Prix Formula One auto racing event.

The Big Ten Conference has decided to postpone its fall sports program, including its college football schedule, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to published reports.

"The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward,” said Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren in a statement. “As time progressed and after hours of discussion with our Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee, it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall."

The Big Ten's decision to postpone the college football season until at least Spring 2021 comes after a morning meeting with the conference’s presidents. The conference, which includes such schools as Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State, becomes the first of the "Power Five" conferences -- which also includes the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference, and Southeastern Conference (SEC) -- to postpone the 2020 college football season, striking a major blow to prospects for a college football season this fall. 

Other conferences that have decided to cancel fall sports play include The Mountain West, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and the Mid-American Conference. 

ESPN scored an impressive primetime ratings win for the final week of 2016, blowing out the field with its coverage of college football playoff games.

ESPN averaged a whopping 8.6 million viewers during the week of Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, easily defeating second place Fox News’ average 1.8 million viewers for the week, according to Nielsen.

ESPN was paced by its coverage of the college football playoffs semi-final games, as well as its Dec. 26 Monday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions. Overall, ESPN programs represented all top 10 most watched shows for the week, led by the Dec. 31 Washington Huskies/Alabama Crimson Tide game and the Ohio State Buckeyes/Clemson Tigers college football playoff games, which both drew 18.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

The games compared favorably to last year’s college football semi-final games on ESPN, which generated a combined 34.1 million viewers.

Hallmark completed its two month run of original holiday films by finishing third for the week with 1.7 million viewers, followed by USA’s 1.5 million watchers and HGTV’s 1.4 million viewers. Discovery Channel (1.3 million viewers), History (1.2 million), FX (1.1 million) and Investigation Discovery, Disney Channel and Freeform (all tied with 1.1 million) rounded out the top 10 most watched shows for the week.

ESPN wrapped up the inaugural College Football Playoff with the ultimate Nielsen paydirt, establishing a third record cable audience in as many telecasts with its coverage of Ohio State's decisive win over Oregon on Monday night.

The Jan. 13 telecast of the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship — the Buckeyes' 42-20 victory over the Ducks at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas – averaged an 18.2 U.S. household rating and 33. 4 million viewers,according to Nielsen, delivering both the largest audience and highest rating in cable television history.

The worldwide leader's championship game presentation surpassed the Jan. 1 marks it set with the CFP semifinals -- OSU's win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl drew 28.3 million, eclipsing the 28.2 million who saw the opener of the doubleheader, Oregon's 59-20 demolition of defending champion Florida State in the Rose Bowl. The semifinals pushed the 2011 BCS title tilt --Auburn clipped Oregon -- and its 27.3 million average from the cable record book.

Standing together as the three-most-watched telecasts in cable history,  the CFB Playoff Semifinals and National Championship combined to average 29.8 million viewers and a 16.0 household rating.

The College Football Playoff National Championship generated a 31% increase in viewership and a 26% rating gain over the 25.6 million and 14.4 ratings for 2014 BCS National Championship in which FSU beat Auburn in the last minute.

OSU-Oregon also came within shouting distance of the 35.6 million who saw Texas topple USC in the 2006 BCS title game, which remains the top college football telecast in history.

The simulcast of ESPN’s main telecast of the College Football Playoff National Championship on WatchESPN attracted 1.16 million unique viewers, 82 million minutes viewed and average minute audience of 366,000. The usage represents an increase of 110% (553,000 unique viewers), 144% (33,600,000 minutes viewed), and 128% (160,000 average audience), respectively, over the 2014 BCS National Championship.

With those deliveries, the CFP National Championship now ranks as the best college football game ever on WatchESPN based on unique viewers, minutes viewed, and an average minute audience surpassing this year’s Sugar Bowl (912,000 unique viewers, 58.7 million minutes viewed, and an average minute audience of 256,000). It also ranks as the best non-World Cup event ever on WatchESPN.

Beyond the traditional telecast, ESPN offered more than 12 ways to watch last night’s championship game through the "CFP Megacast."  Collectively, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes and ESPNEWS, along with ESPN, combined to average 34,148,000 viewers and an 18.6 US household rating. This year’s “Megacast” increased viewership and ratings by 30%and 26% respectively, over the 2014 BCS National Championship Megacast – the first multi-network telecast of this kind, which attracted 26.2 milion viewers and a 14.8 rating.  Television ratings for ESPN Classic, and ESPN Goal Line, which were part of the CFP Megacast, are not available.

The “CFP Megacast” on WatchESPN, which included five unique variations on ESPN3 in addition to the networks’ simulcasts – combined to attract 1.41 million unique viewers, 106,300,000 minutes viewed and average minute audience of 475,000. The usage represents an increase of 82% (773,000 unique viewers), 101%(52,900,000 minutes viewed) and 88%(252,000 average audience over the 2014 BCS National Championship Megacast.

“The inaugural College Football Playoff was a resounding success by all measures,” said John Skipper, ESPN President.  “Fans responded in record numbers across television and digital platforms. It’s been a great first year and we look forward to the opportunity to build upon the excitement as we continue our long-term commitment to this tremendous event.”

The inaugural College Football Playoff Championship has engendered hopes for glory and programming opportunities for the networks with teams in the game on Monday night.

Pac-12 Networks, whose national service and one of its sub-regional, covers the Oregon Ducks, and Big Ten Network, which presents game and related fare around the Ohio State Buckeyes, are gearing up for the Jan. 12 battle at AT&T Stadium.

Pac-12 Networks, which aired a new installment of Pac-12 Football Weekly on Jan. 6, in which Rick Neuheisel and Yogi Roth break down the matchup and reports from Eugene throughout the week, has established a dedicated microsite within Pac-12.com, with coverage from Saturday’s media in Dallas, plus additional videos and written content.

The programmer will kick off a preview special on Sunday at 7 p.m. (PT). The 60-minute Win the Day: National Championship Preview features host Mike Yam and analysts Curtis Conway and Neuheisel offering a look at the Ducks’ road to Dallas and what it will take for Oregon to bring home its first national title in football. Additionally, Ashley Adamson will be on the scene in Big D, giving viewers an up close look at the atmosphere.

On Monday, Adamson, former Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti and Jill Savage are live from the field in Dallas with Yam, Neuheisel and Conway in San Francisco for the College Football Playoff Championship Pregame Show, Presented by GameFly, beginning at 4 p.m..(PT). The 60-minute pregame show will include a live interview with Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, plus other notable guests on site in Dallas. Additionally, Aliotti, Neuheisel and Conway will give viewers the final word before kick on who will win and why.   

Immediately following the game, the group returns for a 90-minute College Football Playoff Championship Postgame Report, Presented by GameFly featuring highlights, live interviews from the field, postgame press conference sound and analysis of the game.

All shows and specials will air live across all seven linear networks and online at Pac-12.com and on the Pac-12 Now app.

For its part, Big Ten Network is also going big with title tilt coverage. On Saturday, Jan. 10 at 4:30 p.m.(ET), BTN Finale sets up shop at the Dallas Convention Center with Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo, Howard Griffith and Glen Mason. The show will also air at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.

BTN has secured the rights to the 2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl, and will give its subscribers to relive Ohio State’s upset over top-ranked Alabama on Jan. 1. ESPN's telecast of the exciting contest garnered the largest audience in cable history.

 At 5 p.m. on Sunday, the service will serve up the Football Championship Preview Show, with the crew dissecting the matchup and keys. The show will originate from AT&T Stadium, with the BTN set located on the plaza outside of Gate H.

Monday is all about THE Ohio State. BTN’s “Buckeye Block” encompasses replays of key matchups past: the 2010 Rose Bowl against Oregon at 8 a.m.. and condensed versions of Football in 60 will feature the squad in games from the 2014 season versus Penn State at 10 a.m, followed on the hour by Michigan State, Minnesota and Michigan.

BTN will then devote two hours to OSU’s demolition of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game at 2 p.m. and another 2015 Sugar Bowl reprise at 4 p.m.

BTN Live, with segments from Dallas, rolls at 6 p.m., leading into the Football Championship Pregame Show, which will also include a pair of one-on-one interviews from earlier in the week in with Sugar Bowl MVP Ezekiel Elliot, and offensive coordinator Ed Warinner.

Guests on the show will include Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, and former Buckeye standouts Eddie George, Troy Smith, Beanie Wells, Troy Smith, Mike Doss and Bobby Carpenter, among others.

The BTN game plan calls for Football Championship Halftime Show and Football Championship Postgame Show at the appropriate times.