December is called “the most wonderful time of the year” for plenty of reasons. For most, it is about the holidays. For college football fans though, it is all about the bowl games, and early rating info suggests that ESPN is enjoying some serious interest.
Four bowl games have already scored more than 2 million viewers. Those are the Las Vegas Bowl (Oregon vs Florida), the Celebration Bowl (Jackson State vs North Carolina Central), the LA Bowl (Fresno State vs Washington State) and the New Mexico Bowl (SMU vs BYU). the Fenway Bowl (Cincinnati vs Louisville) just missed the 2 million mark.
Ratings are up year over year for the Celebration Bowl and the New Mexico Bowl.
The ratings seem to suggest that there is passion for lower-tier bowl games, but big names still matter. Three of the five most-watched games so far have included at least one team from a power five conference. Another, the Celebration Bowl, was the final game Deion Sanders coached at Jackson State.
Bowl Season executive director Nick Carapelli told Front Office Sports that he is not worried about the effects that the College Football Playoff has on games played in mid-December.
“The College Football Playoff is great for the game of college football,” he said. “That being said, Bowl Season is equally important, if not more so, for a greater number of institutions.”
