BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — For the fifteenth straight year, Birmingham was the number one local market for college football games aired on ESPN’s family of networks. Combining for games aired on ESPN and ABC, Nielsen assigned the magic city a 7.4 rating, good for the top spot on the list.
The Alabama Crimson Tide (13-0, 9-0 SEC) had three of the top nine most viewed games of the year, each of which were aired on CBS. Bama’s 54-16 beat-down of the Florida Gators (8-4, 6-3 SEC) earned the number two ranking, with over 11 million viewers. The match-ups against the LSU Tigers (7-4, 5-3 SEC) and the Texas A&M Aggies (8-4, 4-4 SEC) came in a numbers four and eight respectively.
The Tide will have another opportunity to score big ratings for ESPN in the Peach Bowl against the Washington Huskies (12-1, 9-1 PAC 12) as a part of the College Football Playoff. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. CT on New Year’s Eve, and the game will air on ESPN.
Auburn (8-4, 5-3 SEC) will also compete in one of the prized New Year’s Six games and is set to face the Oklahoma Sooners (10-2, 9-0 Big XII) in the Sugar Bowl. The Tigers will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. CT on Jan. 2, and the game will air on ESPN.
During Birmingham’s 15-year run as the top market, the Tide and Tigers have had remarkable success. Since Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa in 2007, UA has won the SEC Championship 5 times, appeared in the playoff three times, and won the National Championship four times. In the past decade and a half, AU has won the SEC three times and the National Championship once. Auburn also had a second place finish in 2013, with another undefeated season in 2004.
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