|
MAC title game scores strong ratings |
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, December 10 2008 |
 The Mid-American Conference continues to gain national exposure at record rates as the Dec. 5 MAC Football Championship game between No. 12 Ball State and Buffalo was the most viewed game in league history.
The 1.7 rating on ESPN2 last Friday represents 1,695,795 households, attracting the highest number of viewers ever involving two MAC teams. It was also the second highest rated contest ever on the ESPN Family of Networks, trailing only the 2.0 rating on ESPN2 in the 1999 MAC championship game for the match up between No. 11 ranked Marshall and Western Michigan.
Earlier this season two nationally televised MAC games also reached milestone ratings.
The Wednesday Nov. 19 ESPN2 telecast between Ball State and Central Michigan ranked as the most viewed and highest rated college football game ever for a Tuesday or Wednesday night on the network. The 1.6 rating translated into 1,605,001 homes for the telecast from Kelly/Shorts Stadium in Mount Pleasant.
The Sept. 5 Friday night ESPN televised game between Ball State and Navy was viewed in nearly 1.2 million homes, making it the best regular-season national television rating for a MAC home game since 2005 prior to the Nov. 19 BSU-CMU match up . The 1.2 rating translated into 1,164,083 homes for the telecast from Scheumann Stadium in Muncie. The 1.2 rating was the best since the Sept. 9, 2005 Ohio upset of Pitt, which drew a 1.6 rating and was viewed by 1.4 million households. |
