Ohio State’s victory over Notre Dame in Monday’s College Football Playoff championship game scored strong ratings for ESPN despite being played just hours after President Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony.
The network said the CFP title game delivered 22.1 million viewers while peaking at 26.1 from 8:30-8:45 p.m. ET. That is down from last year’s title game won by Big 10 rival Michigan that averaged 25.05 million viewers, but it did represent the most-watched game of this season’s expanded 12-team playoff schedule.
While President Trump’s ceremony took place earlier Monday, coverage of the inauguration continued throughout the day.
ESPN said the Buckeyes’ victory was the most-viewed non-NFL sporting event of the past year. And more than half of the coveted demographic of viewers between 18-49 years old who were watching television were tuned into the game.
The numbers were a welcomed sight after this year’s CFP ratings were down about 17 percent through the semifinals. It also continued the steady round-by-round increase. The first round averaged 10.6 million viewers, the quarterfinals averaged 16.9 million and the semifinals averaged 19.2 million.
Despite the dip in ratings for this year’s CFP, especially for the first round held on the campuses of the home teams and airing against NFL playoff games, executive director Rich Clark said there could be more games held on-campus in the future.
Clark said that FBS commissioners will discuss the idea of potentially playing quarterfinal games at campus sites.
“We’ll talk about it for sure,” Clark said. “The campus games were amazing. That atmosphere, and what went on there, and certainly a lot of people are very interested. But the quarterfinals and the semifinals were amazing, too.”
The expanded playoff format debuted this season with four first-round games on campus sites.
Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas and Ohio State each hosted a game and drew praise from fans, media members and coaches for the festive and electric atmosphere each contest delivered.
Those games gave way to the more traditional settings for the playoff, with the quarterfinals and semifinals taking place at New Year’s Six bowl sites. The Fiesta, Rose, Peach and Sugar Bowls hosted the quarterfinals, while the semifinals were played at the Orange and Cotton Bowls.
The New Year’s Six bowl sites exclusively hosted playoff games from 2014-23, and they remain under contract to host playoff games through the 2025-26 season.
