Fiesta Bowl Defeats Rose Bowl in TV Ratings Race, 17.0 to 10.8

NBC’s telecast of the Fiesta Bowl football game between national champion Notre Dame and West Virginia on Jan. 2 drew a 17.0 national rating, the highest of any bowl game this year, the network said.

Playing opposite the Fiesta Bowl, ABC’s Rose Bowl had a 10.8 rating, lowest in the television history of the game, NBC said.

The rating means an average of 17% of all U.S. TV households were tuned into the Fiesta Bowl, or about 15.4 million households.

“The Fiesta Bowl, of course, was for the national championship, and it was the highest-rated of the year, facing what traditionally is the highest-rated bowl game,” NBC research specialist Gray Seamans said. “And we beat it handily--by 57%.”

CBS’ Cotton Bowl, in which UCLA defeated Arkansas, drew a 9.8 rating, lowest in its history, and the Hall of Fame Bowl on NBC had an 8.1. The Citrus Bowl, on ABC, had a 7.2 rating.

National ratings were announced earlier for NBC’s Orange Bowl, 12.8, and ABC’s Sugar Bowl, 8.1, which were shown against one another in prime time.

Seamans said the highest-rated bowl game ever was the Orange Bowl’s national championship showdown 2 years ago, which had a 25.1 rating.