CFP Rules Force Michigan Sportscaster To Use Laughably Crude Drawings To Recap National Championship

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On Monday night, tens of millions of people tuned into ESPN to watch Michigan beat Washington in the College Football Playoff national championship.

A local news outlet in the state the Wolverines call home had a recap ready to go once the game wrapped up, but anyone who was hoping to catch the highlights from the contest had to settle for a laughably low-budget alternative.

ESPN has reportedly paid around $470 million a year to secure the exclusive right to broadcast College Football Playoff games, and anyone who was subjected to the deluge of commercials that aired during this year’s Rose Bowl is very aware the network has done everything in its power to recoup that investment.

It also had plenty of incentive to ensure viewers had to tune into the channel on Monday night if they wanted to see what transpired when the Michigan Wolverines faced off against the Washington Huskies to determine who would earn the right to hoist the trophy presented to the best team in college football when everything was said and done.

It’s easy to get lost in the weeds when it comes to discussing the intricacies of the licensing deals a very large chunk of the television industry is built on, so while I won’t get in too deep, you should know that other outlets that wanted to air clips from that showdown couldn’t share any footage while ESPN was still broadcasting the game and the postgame festivities from NRG Stadium.

That put Sam Ali of Mid-Michigan Now in a somewhat awkward spot, as ESPN hadn’t wrapped up its coverage of the national championship by the time he hopped on the air to let viewers know Jim Harbaugh and Co. had walked away with the 34-13 victory.

While he was prohibited from harnessing video highlights, he still did what he could to cover the most notable moments with some hilariously rudimentary drawings he threw together before doing his thing on the local news.

Well played.