College football is booming.
Week one officially wrapped up Monday night when Ole Miss beat Louisville, and the ratings blew the doors off compared to 2019. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
According to Michael Mulvihill, the ratings across all networks are up 19% from week one two years ago.
Total Week 1 College Football viewing across all networks was up +19% this weekend over 2019.
— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) September 8, 2021
You can’t really compare anything to last season because teams started at different times and it wasn’t even close to resembling a regular season.
So, that explains why we’re jumping to 2019 for a comparison.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, several major games put up gigantic numbers. Most notably, Georgia/Clemson averaged 8.86 million viewers and Notre Dame/FSU averaged 7.75 million viewers.
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Even non-primetime games put up monster numbers. Wisconsin/Penn State and Miami/Alabama averaged more than 5.4 million viewers.
More than 50 college football games were played Saturday in packed stadiums across America, and it was beautiful.
The fear mongering mob telling people to stay inside forever lost, and they lost in a big way. https://t.co/6BRDjfpwGq
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) September 5, 2021
Why are the ratings up? There are probably several reasons. The biggest one is that we finally have normal football again.
In 2020, the crowds were stolen from us and the experience didn’t feel complete. Now, the stands are packed again, fans are loving it and people are tuning in.
This is what was stolen from millions of football fans in 2020 when people were banned from attending games.
We finally have it back. Don’t ever let them steal it from us again. https://t.co/2BRk5szVfI
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) September 4, 2021
Also, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t point out that college football TV ratings are skyrocketing at the same time the NBA is crashing down.
The NBA Finals had worse ratings in five of its six games than Clemson/Georgia did Saturday night on ABC.
The TV ratings for college football absolutely crushed the NBA.
Why? The answer is simple. College football celebrates America and brings people from all backgrounds together.
The NBA divides, separates and lets millionaire athletes play the victim card. pic.twitter.com/4MpVe5jNPm
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) September 7, 2021
College football is back and it feels damn good!