For the third time in five years, the Texas Bowl earned its largest television audience.
The Arkansas/Texas Texas Bowl drew 5.8 million viewers on ESPN Monday night, up 44% from Syracuse/Minnesota last year (4.0M), up 26% from Texas Tech/Minnesota in 2012 (4.6M) and the largest audience in the history of the game (nine telecasts dating back to 2006). Ratings were not immediately available.
The Texas Bowl has set a viewership record in three of the past five seasons. Since moving to ESPN in 2009, the game has drawn at least three million viewers each year — compared to just 186,000 for the 2008 game on NFL Network.
Entering the New Year’s Six, the Texas Bowl was the third-most watched game of the bowl season on ESPN. Only the Holiday Bowl (6.8M) and Belk Bowl (6.4M) earned larger audiences.
(Mon. numbers from ShowBuzz Daily)
