Bowl season began over the weekend, with Utah-BYU drawing the best overnight rating in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl. ABC's telecast on Saturday from 3:45-7:30pm ET drew a 2.5 overnight, up from a 1.7 for Colorado State-BYU last year and up from a 2.3 for USC-Fresno State in '13. ABC also drew a 1.9 overnight for the inaugural Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl on Saturday afternoon. The 12:00-3:45pm telecast featured North Carolina A&T-Alcorn State. Meanwhile, two of ESPN's Saturday bowl games drew a 1.4 overnight. Arizona's win over New Mexico in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl aired from 2:30-5:45pm, while Appalachian State's win over Ohio Univ. aired from 5:45-9:15pm. Louisiana Tech's win over Arkansas State in the R+L Carrier New Orleans Bowl on Saturday from 9:15pm-1:00am drew a 1.0 overnight.
FIGHT CLUB: Fox drew a 1.8 overnight for its 17th UFC fight telecast on Saturday from 8:00-10:15pm, which aired against the New Mexico Bowl and NFL Network's Jets-Cowboys. The telecast was headlined by Rafael dos Anjos-Donald Cerrone. The 1.8 overnight is flat compared to UFC on Fox 13 last December, which featured Junior Dos Santos' win over Stipe Miocic.
The chart below lists overnight ratings from weekend sports telecasts on broadcast TV.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RATING
|
| Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl: N.C. A&T-Alcorn State |
12/19
|
ABC
|
12:00-3:45pm
|
1.9
|
| Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl: Utah-BYU |
12/19
|
ABC
|
3:45-7:30pm
|
2.5
|
| College basketball: UCLA-North Carolina |
12/19
|
CBS
|
1:00-3:15pm
|
1.0
|
| College basketball: Ohio State-Kentucky |
12/19
|
CBS
|
3:30-5:45pm
|
1.7
|
| "Fox College Hoops Tipoff" |
12/19
|
Fox
|
11:30am-12:00pm
|
0.5
|
| College basketball: Wichita State-Seton Hall |
12/19
|
Fox
|
12:00-2:30pm
|
0.4
|
| UFC on Fox 17 |
12/19
|
Fox
|
8:00-10:00pm
|
1.8
|
| EPL: Aston Villa-Newcastle |
12/19
|
NBC
|
12:30-2:30pm
|
0.7
|
| "EPL Goal Zone" |
12/19
|
NBC
|
2:30-3:00pm
|
0.5
|
| "Red Bull Signature Series" |
12/19
|
NBC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.4
|
| Swimming: Duel in the Pool |
12/19
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
| "The NFL Today" |
12/20
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
2.6
|
| NFL: (regional) |
12/20
|
CBS
|
1:00-4:15pm
|
7.9
|
| NFL: Steelers-Broncos (86%) |
12/20
|
CBS
|
4:25-7:30pm
|
15.9
|
| "Fox NFL Kickoff" |
12/20
|
Fox
|
11:00am-12:00pm
|
1.2
|
| "Fox NFL Sunday" |
12/20
|
Fox
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
3.8
|
| NFL: (singleheader) |
12/20
|
Fox
|
1:00-4:15pm
|
15.3
|
| "Herd For The Holidays" |
12/20
|
Fox
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
2.1
|
| "World of Adventure Sports" |
12/20
|
NBC
|
1:30-2:30pm
|
0.3
|
| Dew Tour (replay) |
12/20
|
NBC
|
2:30-4:00pm
|
0.3
|
| ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating |
12/20
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.8
|
| "Football Night in America" |
12/20
|
NBC
|
7:30-8:15pm
|
3.3
|
| "Sunday Night Football": Cardinals-Eagles |
12/20
|
NBC
|
8:30-11:15pm
|
11.7
|
