Facing the NFL, the New Orleans Bowl was not quite ready for primetime Saturday night.
Saturday’s Louisiana Tech/Arkansas State New Orleans Bowl earned 1.5 million viewers on ESPN, down 37% from UL-Lafayette/Nevada last year (2.2M) and down 31% from UL-Lafayette/Tulane in 2013 (2.1M). Ratings were not immediately available.
The Bulldogs’ win ranks as the least-watched New Orleans Bowl in six years — since Middle Tennessee State/Southern Miss in 2009 (993K).
As was the case in 2009, the numbers were hampered by NFL competition. Saturday’s game aired opposite Jets/Cowboys on NFL Network, which scored 7.4 million viewers (not counting local affiliates in both markets). It also faced the UFC on FOX (2.8M) and a Democratic presidential primary debate on ABC (8.0M), though those events likely had less of an impact.
Last year’s game, by contrast, aired in an early morning timeslot against little if any competition.
(Sat. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily)
