The expanded College Football Playoff format, which uses all New Year’s Six bowl games every year, has threatened to render the dozens of other bowl games irrelevant. But this year’s bowl season has proven to be one of the most successful yet—at least from a ratings standpoint.
On Tuesday, ESPN programming chief Burke Magnus took a victory lap, touting the viewership numbers that non-CFP bowls put up on the network’s platforms.
“Here is my annual post to the ‘there are too many bowl games crowd,’” Magnus wrote on X/Twitter. He noted 33 bowl games outside the NY6 averaged 2.7 million viewers—a 14% increase year over year. He added 14 of those bowls hit either a five-year or 10-year high.
Some of the most popular games: BYU and Colorado, which faced off in the Alamo Bowl during prime time on ABC on Dec. 28, averaged eight million viewers, according to Sports Media Watch. The ReliaQuest Bowl, featuring Michigan’s upset of Alabama, also drew an impressive 6.55 million viewers.
The numbers are particularly valuable for networks, which are always on the lookout for inventory that consistently rakes in more than a million viewers. Bowl games, despite concerns of their waning importance, have continued to deliver on that front.
In some cases, the popularity could be attributed to rivalries and on-field storylines like opt-outs, as Front Office Sports pointed out. But even forgettable matchups like Navy-Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 27 drew 2.85 million viewers. The Pop-Tarts Bowl between Iowa State and Miami (6.8 million viewers), though a good game on the field, has arguably proved yet another factor influencing popularity: a viral marketing strategy.
It’s particularly impressive given that bowl games are facing massive changes that go beyond the CFP format. With unlimited transfer opportunities, more players are opting out of games not just to save themselves for the NFL Draft as they did previously, but also to save themselves for joining another college team.
But as Magnus points out, bowl games appear to be doing just fine.
