Rocky Mountain Showdown ‘shatters’ ESPN ratings record
Sep 19, 2023, 10:59 AM | Updated: Sep 20, 2023, 3:20 pm
The Colorado Buffaloes played a tough in-state rival in the middle of the day on national TV a season ago with 898,000 folks watching. Just a year later, the CU Buffs hosted the Rocky Mountain Showdown and 10 times as many people were watching… in the middle of the night.
ESPN is reporting that they drew a peak of 11.1 million viewers as the Buffaloes beat the Colorado State Rams in double overtime 43-35, with 8.2 million people still tuning in at 2:15 a.m. Eastern time when the game wrapped up.
ESPN says it’s not only the most-streamed regular season game ever and by far the biggest number done for a 10 p.m. Eastern start, but it’s the fifth-most watched college football game on the network’s record.
π₯ @CUBuffsFootball's comeback thriller registers π.π πππππππ πππππππ
πESPNβs 5th most-watched CFB game on record
πShatters previous ESPN late prime window viewership high
π@ESPNCFB's most-streamed regular season game of all time pic.twitter.com/his917lb0F— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 19, 2023
The 8.2 million hanging around past midnight here in Colorado. was a bigger by over 1 million than the next highest-watched game of the weekend’s peak.
The Colorado-CSU game audience peaked at 11-11:15pmET with 11.095 million viewers.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) September 19, 2023
Given the GameDay, Big Noon and the entire ESPN company was in Boulder on Friday and Saturday, it’s not a shock this was a hyped-up game. Many folks nationally were joking about rushing home to watch a CSU Rams football game for the first time in their lives.
It’s fair to say Colorado’s next appearance at Folsom Field, which will come after this week’s battle with Oregon, may be one of the most important games in program history. After facing the No. 10 Ducks, the No. 19 Buffs will host the No. 5 USC Trojans in a battle of two possible Heisman candidates and top quarterback picks in coming NFL Drafts. That game is rumored to be on Big Noon Kickoff again, with the start time suggesting as such.
Colorado’s first two games this year were on Fox, with that Big Noon slot, each drawing about 8 million viewers.
In an era where TV is running college football to the point where conference realignment is singularly focused on network money, Deion Sanders has found a way to make the CU Buffs the most important thing on TV outside of the NFL.
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