ESPN’s Saturday night viewership for Texas vs. Alabama narrowly edged out Deion Sanders’ Colorado home debut against Nebraska on Fox Sports.
Texas-Alabama drew 8.8 million viewers on ESPN platforms, including 799,000 viewers that tuned into “The Pat McAfee Show” alternate broadcast on ESPN2. It was the most-watched alt-cast for McAfee, whose show debuted in 2019 with DAZN before he joined ESPN in May on a multiyear deal that pays him a reported $85 million.
Texas-Alabama peaked at 10.7 million viewers, making it ESPN’s most-watched regular-season college football game since 2015 and the most-watched college football game of the week across all networks.
Colorado’s Saturday noon ET win over Nebraska scored 8.73 million viewers on Fox, making it the second-most-watched game of the week. When not counting “The Pat McAfee Show” viewers on ESPN2, Nebraska-Colorado beat the 7.9 million viewers that watched ESPN’s main broadcast of Texas-Alabama.
Fox’s Nebraska-Colorado game is rated as the network’s most-watched Pac-12 regular-season game ever and the 10th most-watched college football game ever on Fox. It was also the second-most-streamed CFB game in Fox Sports history.
Colorado’s season-opening road win over TCU on Fox drew 7.62 million viewers, ranking as the network’s most-watched Week 1 Big Noon Saturday game ever.
The Coach Prime effect will see both ESPN’s “College GameDay” pregame show and Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” pregame show air from Boulder for Colorado’s Week 3 game against Colorado State, which will air on ESPN. It will mark the first time Fox Sports has ever done its “Big Noon Kickoff” from the site of a game the network isn’t broadcasting, and it will mark the first appearance for “College GameDay” at Folsom Field since 1996.
![Feb 20, 2025; Boston, MA, USA; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team USA forward Brady Tkachuk (7) celebrates scoring against Team Canada during the first period during the 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey championship game at TD Garden.](https://frontofficesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/USATSI_25467641-scaled-e1740194593487.jpg?quality=100&w=1024)
![Feb 20, 2025; Boston, MA, USA; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team USA forward Brock Nelson (29) reacts to a hit during the second period against Team Canada during the 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey championship game at TD Garden.](https://frontofficesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/USATSI_25467878_168416386_lowres-scaled.jpg?quality=100&w=1024)
![Feb 15, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team United States forward Matthew Tkachuk (19) and Team Canada forward brandon Hagel (38) fight in the first period during a 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey game at the Bell Centre.](https://frontofficesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/USATSI_25429594_168416385_lowres-e1739674194139.jpg?quality=100&w=1024)
