The New Mexico Bowl earned its smallest television audience ever.
The Utah State/UTEP New Mexico Bowl drew 1.9 million viewers on ESPN last Saturday afternoon, down 28% in ratings and 31% in viewership from Colorado State/Washington State last year (1.8, 2.8M) and down 28% and 25%, respectively, from Arizona/Nevada in 2012 (1.8, 2.6M).
The Aggies’ win ranks as the least-watched New Mexico Bowl ever (nine telecasts dating back to 2006). Every other edition of the game earned at least two million viewers, with the previous record low being 2.2 million for Temple/Wyoming in 2011.
Portions of the game overlapped with both the Las Vegas Bowl on ABC and live NFL action on NFL Network. While last year’s game also faced the Las Vegas Bowl, the NFL competition was a new element.
(Sat. numbers via Awful Announcing)
