PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Philadelphia was the center of the college football world last Saturday as Temple’s game against Notre Dame attracted record ratings locally and was the most-watched college football game on any network last week.
In addition to the school-record crowd of 69,280 in attendance at Lincoln Financial Field, nearly six million television viewers nationally saw the battle of top-25 programs on ABC Saturday night. The game averaged 5,977,000 viewers despite competition from Game 4 of the World Series.
In Philadelphia, the game drew a 17.6 local rating which, by far, is ABC’s highest recorded rating for a regular-season college football game in the nation’s No. 4 designated market area. The previous high was the 2006 Ohio State-Michigan game, which featured the top two teams in the nation and drew a 12.4 rating. The city also provided the backdrop for ESPN College GameDay, which was staged Saturday morning from Independence Mall.
Saturday’s game, which had a 3.6 national rating, is expected to finish among the highest-rated regular-season games of the 2015 season.
The data reflects an impressive performance by American Athletic Conference teams under the conference’s television partnerships with ESPN/ABC and CBS Sports. Earlier this season, Memphis’ win against Mississippi attracted a 22.6 rating and a 39 share in the Memphis DMA, while the Tigers have also earned local ratings of 12.0 or better for their conference games against Cincinnati and Tulsa on ESPN.
The American has had 14 games this season that have attracted at least one million viewers.
ESPN College GameDay will return to Philadelphia Dec. 12 for the annual Army-Navy Game presented by USAA.