The first national championship game of the 12-team College Football Playoff era, played between Ohio State and Notre Dame, delivered in many ways — including TV viewership ratings.
According to ESPN on Wednesday, Monday’s national championship game averaged 22.1 million viewers, making it not only the most-watched game of the CFP, but also the most-watched non-NFL sporting event in the past year.
The Buckeyes’ 34-23 victory over the Fighting Irish peaked at 26.1 million viewers between 8:30 p.m. ET and 8:45 p.m. ET, which per the Associated Press came in the second quarter when the game was even at 7-7 apiece.
However, Monday night’s game — which featured a ‘megacast’ across the ESPN network — saw a significant drop from the 2024 CFP championship game between Michigan and Washington. The Ohio State-Notre Dame contest saw a 12.5% drop from the Wolverines beating the Huskies in last season’s title game, which averaged 25 million viewers.
The 22.1 million viewers who tuned into watch Will Howard, Jeremiah Smith and the Buckeyes end their 10-year national championship drought marked the third-lowest audience of the past 11 CFP title games.
With its victory on Monday, Ohio State secured its ninth national championship and second CFP title in program history. Ryan Day joined a class of just five former Buckeye coaches — Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer — to win a national championship in Columbus.
The Buckeyes finished as the No. 1 team in the country in the final US LBM Coaches Poll on Tuesday, with the Irish behind at No. 2.
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