NCAA Week 1: Huge Decline For ESPN’s Labor Day Game

ESPN’s Labor Day college football special was a dud in the ratings.

Monday’s Miami/Maryland college football game drew 4.395 million viewers on ESPN, down 56% from last year (BSU/VT: 9.888M), and down 48% from 2009 (MIA/FSU: 8.406M).

The game was also down double-digits from 2008 (TEN/UCLA: 6.240M, down 30%), 2007 (FSU/CLEM: 6.731M, down 35%) and 2006 (MIA/FSU: 9.120M, down 52%).

Two nights earlier, the September 3 Boise State/Georgia game earned 3.735 million viewers — up 2% from last year (OSU/TCU: 3.660M), but down 18% from 2009 (BYU/OU: 4.562M).

(This year’s numbers from TV By the Numbers [1], [2])