ESPN’s annual Labor Day college football game did well in the metered markets, but was no match for last year.
Monday’s Mississippi/Florida State college football game had a 5.3 overnight rating on ESPN, down 20% from Ohio State/Virginia Tech last year (6.6) but up 96% from Miami/Louisville in 2014 (2.7). Though down from last year, the 5.3 is fifth-best for a Labor Day game on ESPN, behind Boise State/Virginia Tech in 2010 (6.7), last year’s game, and Miami/FSU in both 2006 (6.1) and 2009 (5.6).
The Seminoles’ comeback win delivered the second-highest overnight of college football’s opening weekend, behind Notre Dame/Texas on ABC the previous night (7.0) and ahead of both USC/Alabama and LSU/Wisconsin on Saturday (4.9 for each).
The ESPN family of networks accounted for the six highest overnights of the opening weekend, no surprise given that CBS had a low-wattage matchup between UCLA and Texas A&M (2.0) and neither FOX nor NBC carried any games.
Birmingham was Monday’s top market with a 22.5 rating, followed by Jacksonville (16.9), Memphis (14.3), Orlando (12.2) and Greenville (11.8).
(Mon. numbers from ESPN)
