Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes Put Up Mile-High Local TV Ratings
With just a handful of national TV windows left on the schedule, at least for the time being, the hype over Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes is about to die down a bit. But a look at the team’s local ratings suggests that Coach Prime and his charges will remain the focus of attention in the home media market.
According to Nielsen ratings data, the Buffs thus far have averaged 403,190 viewers per game in the Denver market, which marks a seven-fold increase compared to the first four telecasts of the 2022 campaign (55,528). Predictably enough, Colorado scared up its biggest local TV audience of the season on Sept. 16, when it averaged 519,744 viewers with its 43-35 overtime victory against Colorado State.
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The Rams’ home base of Fort Collins, Colo., is also included in the Denver DMA, which serves 1.79 million TV households and covers roughly two-thirds of the state’s land mass.
Colorado’s 626% local TV lift is obviously a function of the excitement Sanders has brought to the Mile High City and its environs, but the upgrade in the quality of football is probably doing a lot of heavy lifting as well. At this time a year ago, the Buffs were 0-4 (and on their way to a 1-11 record), having scored 47 points to their opponents’ 173. The team’s average margin of defeat over that four-game stretch was 31.5 points.
What a difference a year—and the wholesale exploitation of the transfer portal—makes. Sanders’ squad is 3-1, with wins at TCU and at home versus Nebraska and their in-state rivals. Last weekend’s reality check, a 42-6 drubbing at the hands of the Oregon Ducks, may have brought the rhetoric down a notch, but it sure did numbers. ABC delivered just over 10 million viewers in its Saturday 3:30 p.m. ET window, which marks the biggest turnout for a college football game since the season began.
On the national stage, Colorado has featured in four of the top seven most-watched games of 2023. With an average draw of 8.83 million viewers across Fox, ESPN and ABC, the Buffs’ coast-to-coast deliveries are 10 times higher than their five Nielsen-rated contests of a year ago (847,000).
After Sanders & Co. navigate Saturday’s visit from No. 8 USC in Fox’s Big Noon Saturday window, they’ll slip out of the spotlight. The team’s next national appearance, a home game against Stanford, is set to air on ESPN on Friday, Oct. 13, and then their next (and possibly last) big window is a Nov. 17 road trip to Pullman, Wash., where they’ll take on Washington State in a game that kicks off on FS1 at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Back on the home front, Colorado is expected to keep lighting up Denver’s ratings dials, with games still to be played against a ranked Oregon State and the on-the-cusp UCLA Bruins. Season-to-date, the Buffs’ in-market household ratings are up a staggering 976% versus the analogous period in 2022.
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