There was not much national interest in Western Michigan’s underdog story.
Monday’s Wisconsin/Western Michigan Cotton Bowl had a 3.1 final rating and 5.4 million viewers on ESPN, down 40% in ratings and viewership from Michigan State/Baylor two seasons ago (5.2, 9.1M) and down 21% and 17% respectively from Missouri/Oklahoma State on FOX in 2014, which aired directly opposite the Orange Bowl (3.9, 6.5M).
Last year’s Alabama/Michigan State Cotton Bowl was a College Football Playoff semifinal and had a 9.6 with 18.6 million.
The Badgers’ win ranks as the lowest rated and least-watched Cotton Bowl since 2005, when Tennessee/Texas A&M had a 2.6 and 4.0 million on FOX. No other Cotton Bowl in more than 20 years has had a lower rating.
It also ranks as the lowest rated game of any bowl series — the “New Year’s Six” and its predecessors the Bowl Championship Series and Bowl Alliance — since at least the days of the Bowl Coalition in the early 1990s. The previous lows were a 3.4 and 5.0 million for the 2014 Peach Bowl. Keep in mind that previous bowl series did not have early afternoon kickoffs like Monday’s 1 PM ET start.
Not counting playoff games, nine of the 12 New Year’s Six bowls have failed to earn at least a 6.0 rating — compared to just two of the 72 all-time BCS bowls.
Figures do not include the 133,000 viewers who streamed coverage on WatchESPN. With those numbers added to the mix, the game had 5.6 million.
(Mon. numbers from ESPN)
