Ratings and viewership increased significantly for several college football bowl games on ESPN.
Fueled by the controversy involving former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach and the family of ESPN analyst Craig James, ratings and viewership jumped for the Alamo Bowl. Texas Tech’s win over Michigan St. drew a 4.8 U.S. rating and 7.8 million viewers on ESPN January 2, up 23% and 29%, respectively, from last year’s Missouri/Northwestern game (3.9, 6.1 mil).
The game was also up 105% in viewership compared to Penn St./Texas A&M in ’08.
Earlier that day, the Arkansas/ECU Liberty Bowl drew a hefty 3.8 U.S. rating and 6.4 million viewers, up a whopping 65% and 79%, respectively, from last year’s Kentucky/ECU game (2.3, 3.6 mil), and up 22% in viewership from Mississippi/UCF in ’08 (5.4 mil).
On New Year’s Day, the Auburn/Northwestern Outback Bowl drew a 3.5 U.S. rating and 5.7 million viewers, up 35% in ratings and 39% in viewers from Iowa/South Carolina last year (2.6, 4.1 mil), and up 21% and 25%, respectively, from Tennessee/Wisconsin in ’08 (2.9, 4.6 mil).
Finally, the Virginia Tech/Tennessee Chick-Fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve drew a 4.2 U.S. rating and 7.5 million viewers — up 24% in ratings and 33% in viewership from last year’s LSU/Georgia Tech game (3.4, 5.6 mil), but down 5% in ratings and flat in viewership compared to Auburn/Clemson in ’08 (4.4, 7.5 mil).
