BCS Title Ratings Slip

Viewership for college football’s BCS championship game apparently was down this year. The Sugar Bowl on ABC Sunday night drew a 14.4 overnight rating with a 22 share. Last year’s Fiesta Bowl, which was the BCS championship game, had an overnight of 18.6/29.

The L.A. rating for the Sugar Bowl was a 13.3/20, which topped two of the four weekend NFL playoff games. The L.A. NFL ratings were: Green Bay-Seattle, 14.8/34; Carolina-Dallas, 13.9/24; Baltimore-Tennessee, 13.1/28, and Indianapolis-Denver, 12.1/26.

Sunday night’s Laker-Clipper game, which went up against the Sugar Bowl, got a 3.9/6 on Channel 9 and a 2.6/4 on Channel 5. It was on Channel 9 because, technically, it was a Laker road game, and Channel 5 chose to also televise it because of the rating it would generate. Channel 5’s Clipper telecasts usually get about a 1.0 rating.

ABC announced Monday that the national rating/share for the Rose Bowl game was a 14.3./25. The national rating/share for last year’s Rose Bowl game between Oklahoma and Washington State was an 11.3/20.

-- Larry Stewart