Given a four-loss team was involved, perhaps it should be no surprise that Sugar Bowl ratings were among the lowest in two decades.
Monday’s Oklahoma/Auburn Sugar Bowl had a 5.6 final rating and 9.5 million viewers on ESPN, up 10% in ratings and 6% in viewership from Mississippi/Oklahoma State last year (5.1, 8.9M) but down 40% and 42% respectively from Oklahoma/Alabama in 2014, the last year of the BCS (9.3, 16.3M).
The 2015 Ohio State/Alabama Sugar Bowl was part of the College Football Playoff and had a 15.2 and 28.3 million.
The Sooners’ easy win delivered the second-lowest Sugar Bowl rating since Florida/West Virginia in 1994 (5.2) and the game’s second-smallest audience since at least 1999. Despite getting a guaranteed post-Rose Bowl timeslot every year, both non-playoff Sugar bowls under the New Year’s Six format earned lower ratings than in any year of the BCS. During the 16 seasons of the “BCS era,” the Sugar Bowl never went lower than the 6.1 and 9.7 million for Michigan/Virginia Tech in 2012.
Including the streaming audience of 198,000 on WatchESPN, Monday’s game had 9.7 million viewers.
(Mon. numbers from ESPN)
