Deion Sanders’ Colorado coaching debut was Fox’s most-watched Big Noon Saturday Week 1 game since the show premiered in 2019.
The Buffs’ 45-42 road upset over then-No. 17 TCU drew 7.26 million viewers, making it the most-watched game of the day on any network.
Saturday marked a 17% increase over the 2022 Big Noon Saturday average of 6.23 million and was the fourth-most-streamed college football game in Fox Sports history and the third-most-watched Big 12 regular-season game ever on Fox.
Fox, which makes up half of college football’s duopoly with ESPN, is betting big on Sanders, again putting Colorado in its Saturday noon slot for the upcoming home-opener against Nebraska.
Colorado is in its last Pac-12 season before it moves to the Big 12, which has a $2.28 billion media rights package with Fox and ESPN that will start in 2025.
Coach Prime’s arrival in Boulder alongside his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and other star recruits such as two-way Heisman hopeful Travis Hunter, have Colorado ranked No. 22 after an abysmal 1-11 season.
Colorado has become college football’s hottest ticket, selling more than $430,000 in single-game tickets since Saturday’s upset. According to TickPick, the $417 average purchase price for Colorado-Nebraska ranks as the 12th-most-expensive college football regular-season game of all time.
