With big changes on the horizon, the Rose Bowl ratings hit an all-time low.
The 2023 grandpa between Pennsylvania and Utah saw only 10.2 million viewers on ESPN this year, the network said Wednesday. It made it to the Rose Bowl, “breaking” the 13.6 million mark held in the 2016 Stanford-Iowa matchup.
By comparison, last year’s Rose Bowl between Ohio and Utah drew 16.6 million viewers.
Penn State won Monday’s game, 35-21.
The good news for ESPN is that the Fiesta Bowl (21.7 million viewers) and Peach Bowl (22.4 million) were the most watched semifinal games in five years despite being in New York, so the College Football Playoff Bowl did well in the ratings department. New Year’s Eve.
Why was the Rose Bowl rated poorly?
There are several potential explanations for the ratings slump. First of all, the game was played on January 2nd instead of New Year’s Day, which was a Sunday this year. The Rose Bowl traditionally puts him back a day in such years to avoid conflict with the NFL.
This was also the year they lost both the top two teams in the Big Ten when the Rose Bowl was not the College Football Playoff Bowl and Michigan and Ohio State made the playoffs. Penn State is still a strong team when it comes to viewership, but given Utah’s market size and repeat visits, it probably doesn’t contribute much to viewership.
The decline in cable TV viewership continues, and the Rose Bowl is unaffected. However, The Athletic also noted that, unlike pre-2020 Rose Bowls, this year’s event takes into account out-of-home audiences such as bar patrons and watch parties, so this year’s numbers are lower than in the past. I’m pointing out that it’s even worse.
This is all happening two seasons before the Rose Bowl makes a giant leap alongside all other College Football Playoff Bowls. It will host two quarterfinal games and one semifinal game.
The Rose Bowl was the last resort to moving the setup away from its originally scheduled 2026 start, but even with the usual traditions removed, viewership numbers will likely increase significantly once the field expands. It is possible that