Miami Football Draws Impressive TV Ratings

Oct. 8, 2009

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – This year, the Hurricanes are not only excelling on the field, but they are also putting up some big numbers on television as well. The 11th-ranked ‘Canes (3-1) opened the 2009 campaign playing four ranked teams in Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma on either national or regional television.

Traditionally the Hurricanes have been a huge TV draw and this year has proven to be no different. The game at Florida State on Labor Day was the third-most viewed regular season game in ESPN history with 5.82 million household impressions. That number trails only the Ohio State-USC game from earlier this season (7.24 million household impressions) and the UM-FSU game on Labor Day 2006 (6.39 million household impressions). In the history of ESPN, the University of Miami has been involved four of the top six most viewed games.

Other Hurricane football games this year have fared well in the ratings as well. The Thursday night Georgia Tech game on September 17 drew a 3.37 rating and had 3.33 million household impressions. The game at Virginia Tech – which was a split national game with Illinois at Ohio State – had a 3.94 rating and 4.52 million households while the Oklahoma game on October 3, which was seen by 81 percent of the country, had a 4.84 rating (5.56 million household impressions).