The Fiesta Bowl finished with an 8.3 rating for FOX, which isn’t bad by any means (still higher than four of the six NBA Finals games, all the golf majors and one World Series game) but is well down from last year’s 12.9 rating.
The Orange Bowl had a much steeper drop. NBC won the night last night, while FOX finished in second place. The ratings will be much lower than last year’s Orange Bowl, which featured Penn State and Florida State and went three overtimes. That game scored a 12.3; this year’s game might not have even scored an 8.0. Ratings for tonight’s Sugar Bowl should be fairly strong, and the National Championship game could get anywhere from a 13 to a 16 rating next Monday. The Rose Bowl scored a 14.5 overnight rating for ABC, which should also help the BCS. But when the dust clears, expect the overall BCS ratings this year to be anywhere from 10 to 30 percent lower than the ratings for last year.
One contributing factor to the low ratings could be FOX’s mediocre presentation. Last night’s game was lacking in drama and the broadcast team of Matt Vasergian, Terry Donahue and Pat Haden left much to be desired. FOX’s pregame show mirrored its baseball pregame — which is far from a good thing. Puff pieces and car commercials were hurled at viewers for forty long minutes before the game started, and Chris Rose continued to show why he’s better served entertaining on The Worst Damn Sports Show Period. Tonight, FOX unveils its second best college football announcing team, when Kenny Albert, Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long call the Sugar Bowl. Bradshaw and Long don’t have the chemistry of a Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, and its always a gamble to put studio talent in the broadcast booth. Still, the duo should be more informative and entertaining than Donahue and Haden.
