The College Football Playoff semifinals dominated New Year’s Day, as one would expect.
The Michigan-Alabama College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl averaged a combined 13.0 rating and 27.76 million viewers across ESPN (12.2, 26.10M), ESPN2 (0.7, 1.42M), ESPNU (0.08, 165K) and ESPN Deportes (0.03, 70K), marking the largest non-NFL sports audience since 2018. As goes without saying, it was the most-watched program of New Year’s Day.
Airing immediately afterward, the Washington-Texas CFP semifinal at the Sugar Bowl averaged a 9.3 and 18.77 million (8.8, 17.67M on ESPN; 0.48, 955K on ESPN2; 0.06, 116K on ESPNU; 0.02, 31K on ESPN Deportes) — the least-watched of the eight New Year’s Day CFP semifinals. The Huskies’ win did not begin until 9 PM ET due to the length of the Rose Bowl.
Earlier in the day, Oregon’s rout of Liberty in the Fiesta Bowl averaged a 2.4 and 4.67 million on ESPN (2.4, 4.59M), ESPNU (0.04, 61K) and ESPN Deportes (0.01, 10K), topping only last year’s Tulane-USC Cotton Bowl in the same window (2.3, 4.17M) as the least-watched New Year’s Six bowl game on record.
Notably, the Fiesta Bowl was not the most-watched bowl game in the early window. Tennessee’s rout of Iowa in the Citrus Bowl topped the charts with a 3.5 and 6.80 million on ABC, up 81% and 104% respectively from last year (LSU-Purdue: 1.9, 3.33M) and the largest audience for the game since Alabama-Michigan scored 14 million in 2020.
Over on ESPN2, LSU’s narrow win over Wisconsin nearly matched the Fiesta Bowl with a 2.4 and 4.61 million — the largest audience for the Tampa Bay bowl game since South Carolina-Michigan in 2017 (5.05M). Ratings and viewership more-than-doubled last year (Mississippi State-Illinois: 2.18M).
Outside of college football, the the Golden Knights-Kraken NHL Winter Classic averaged a 0.52 and 1.10 million across TNT (0.49, 1.03M) and truTV (0.04, 76K). As previously noted, the game ranks as the least-watched edition of the Winter Classic (15 games dating back to 2008).
English Premier League soccer topped out at a 0.35 and 716,000 for Newcastle-Liverpool on USA Network, while a rare NBA matinee on NBA TV (Timberwolves-Knicks) was further back at a 0.14 and 266,000.
New Year’s Day sports ratings
