--- title: ESPN: Record Viewers for Ohio State, Oregon Game description: The College Football Playoff tournament gave ESPN its three most viewed programs ever canonical: https://time.com/3666513/espn-ncaa-oregon-ohio/ author: Jack Linshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-14T02:20:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:33:00.807Z article:section: Sports og:title: ESPN Scores Record Viewership for Oregon-Ohio State Game og:description: The College Football Playoff tournament gave ESPN its three most viewed programs ever og:url: https://time.com/3666513/espn-ncaa-oregon-ohio/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: ESPN Scores Record Viewership for Oregon-Ohio State Game twitter:description: The College Football Playoff tournament gave ESPN its three most viewed programs ever twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # ESPN Scores Record Viewership for Oregon-Ohio State Game  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Jan 14, 2015 2:20 AM CUT  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Jan 14, 2015 2:20 AM CUT An unprecedented number of viewers [tuned their televisions to ESPN](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/ncaa-championship-game-gives-espn-763346 "undefined") on Monday night for the NCAA championship game between Oregon and Ohio State. Some 33.3 million people watched the inaugural College Football Playoff tournament, according to [_The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/ncaa-championship-game-gives-espn-763346 "undefined")_._ That gives ESPN its three most viewed programs, with the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl games on New Year’s Day each bringing in about 28 million viewers. The massive audience is a huge win for the tournament, a 12-year deal for which ESPN—[No. 1 in cable ratings for last year](http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/ratings-espn-tops-cable-for-year-own-hallmark-we-tv-among-few-gainers-1201391036/ "undefined")—paid $7.3 billion. \[[_The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/ncaa-championship-game-gives-espn-763346 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3666513/espn-ncaa-oregon-ohio/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3666513/espn-ncaa-oregon-ohio/"},"headline":"ESPN Scores Record Viewership for Oregon-Ohio State Game","datePublished":"2015-01-14T02:20:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:33:00.807Z","description":"The College Football Playoff tournament gave ESPN its three most viewed programs ever","url":"https://time.com/3666513/espn-ncaa-oregon-ohio/","keywords":["Football","Television","Media"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/football/","name":"Football"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3666513/espn-ncaa-oregon-ohio/","name":"ESPN Scores Record Viewership for Oregon-Ohio State Game"}}]}] ```