BCS Championship game draws 25.6 million viewers for ESPN
The BCS National Championship game, which ended in a narrow comeback victory for Florida State over Auburn, brought in big television viewership numbers for ESPN, but not enough for a record.
The college football battle at the Rose Bowl, the last BCS game ever, drew an average of 25.6 million people Monday night, making it the third-most-watched cable telecast ever. That’s lower than ESPN’s coverage of the 2011 and 2013 championship games.
In this season’s title game, the Florida State Seminoles beat the Auburn Tigers 34-31.
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The similarly close 2011 Auburn-Oregon match-up garnered 27.3 million viewers for the all-time cable record, while last year’s more lopsided Alabama-Notre Dame contest pulled in 26.4 million.
The Disney-owned sports channel’s presentation of the five BCS bowl games averaged 16.5 million viewers, 9% better than last year.
The 16-year-old BCS will be replaced by the College Football Playoff system season and will also air on ESPN.
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