Touchdown!
ESPN’s coverage of this year’s Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl on Thursday evening wound up delivering cable TV’s two largest audiences ever.
At 5 pm, the match-up between Oregon and Florida State — despite being the most lopsided Rose Bowl contest since 1948, with a final score of 59-20 — drew 28.16 million total viewers, up 51 percent from last year.
Then at 9 pm, O-H-I-O State’s 42-35 victory over Alabama drew 28.27 million viewers, surging 150 percent from last year’s Sugar Bowl.
As noted by our sister site Deadline, ESPN is paying a reported $470 million annually in a 12-year deal to host the semifinal games of the College Football Playoffs, of which this is the inaugural year.
