A move from ESPN to ESPN2 not surprisingly sank the Quick Lane Bowl.
Monday’s Minnesota/Central Michigan Quick Lane Bowl earned 1.5 million viewers on ESPN2, down 48% from last year’s inaugural game between Rutgers and North Carolina, which aired on ESPN (2.9M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Including the now-defunct Motor City Bowl, the Golden Gophers’ win ranks as the least-watched Detroit bowl game in at least the past ten seasons.
This year’s game aired on ESPN2 to accommodate ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The last time ESPN2 aired a bowl game outside of New Year’s Day was 2012, when the Fight Hunger Bowl (now the Foster Farms Bowl) had 1.1 million.
Despite the big decline, Monday’s game did not deliver the smallest audience of the bowl season. Four bowls have earned fewer viewers — the Poinsettia (1.4M), New Orleans (1.4M), Miami Beach (1.2M) and Potato (1.1M) — not counting the Cure Bowl on non-Nielsen rated CBS Sports Network.
(Mon. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily)
