The Colorado football hype train resulted in tremendous TV ratings for Fox this weekend. The network announced Wednesday that the Buffaloes’ win over the TCU Horned Frogs was its third most-watched Big 12 college football broadcast ever.
In addition, Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders’ first Power 5 win gave Fox its most-watched Big Noon Saturday Week 1 broadcast of all time, averaging more than seven million viewers and providing the most-watched telecast of the day on any network.
https://twitter.com/FOXSportsPR/status/1699445620942250465?s=20
Fox lucked into the Coach Prime wave after Colorado scheduled Big Ten and Big 12 opponents to start its season. Big Noon Saturday and pregame show Big Noon Kickoff (which also saw that nice boost here) has begun college football Saturdays for Fox since 2019. Colorado will travel to Nebraska in Week Two to headline the broadcast slot for Fox once again this weekend.
Coming off a 1-11 with an almost entirely new roster, Colorado was no sure bet to be competitive against TCU. And Matt Rhule’s Nebraska will represent another big test for Coach Prime. But beyond the aura around Sanders, sports fans were introduced to quarterback Shedeur Sanders (the coach’s son) and two-way player Travis Hunter in Colorado’s upset win.
Fox also has Colorado’s Week 11 game at Washington State, which is scheduled to air on FS1 as part of Fox’s expiring broadcast rights deal with the Pac-12. ESPN will air Colorado in Week Three at home for the Rocky Mountain Showdown against the Colorado State Rams, then again in Week Seven at home against Stanford.
Sanders signed a five-year deal worth up to nearly $30 million at Colorado earlier this year. Early returns on the field and for the business look great for the Buffaloes so far. Colorado heads to the Big 12 next fall and will hope momentum continues ahead of that move.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.