UConn–San Diego State Final Delivers Historically Low Ratings

[Hey Adrien!]

I dont care if 5 people watched it.

Each viewer could be holding one of our trophies.

It's funny, I was going to post something similar.

Could care less about ratings, whether people find it interesting or whatever.

People who really love college basketball watched the game. That's all that matters.

 

[UCfor3]

This is more a SD St issue than a UConn issue. SD St is not a name brand school and most predicted a blowout. Throw in the 9:20 start....

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

Sorry we're so good at basketball that we ruined the excitement for you.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

If the ratings were higher, could it help UConn's case to get into the ACC, B12 or B10? Or, there were external factors that impacted the ratings?

 

[cordeodato]

Don't care

 

[Seamus84]

still 14.7m more people than saw Cuse play on Monday

 

[UCTitleTown]

On one of the post-game shows, the discussion invariably turned to the Blue Blood question. Someone said, something like, "How can UConn be a Blue Blood when San Diego State had three times the fans at the Final?" Another person defended UConn and said, "Well, CT is a small state."

 

[Friarsnoop]

I think it was a combination of no one knowing about SD State, and the fact that no one thought UConn would lose. 3 relative unknowns in the Final Four didn't help either, especially compared to last year.

 

[Scrutineer]

The Syracuse fans should try reading this story:

Syracuse Wins 2023 Final Four

 

[nelsonmuntz]

UConn-Duke or UConn-Kentucky would have had better ratings. But those two losers couldn't get past the first weekend.

If college basketball needs Kentucky in the Final Four to get good ratings then the sport will have to give Kentucky a bye to the Final Four. I don't see any other way Kentucky gets there.

 

[shizzle787]

If UConn played Duke in the title game, it would have had great ratings. This is about SDSU more than anything.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Not surprising. Some upsets are good for fan interest. Too many upsets are bad.

No B1G team , no B12 team , no PAC 12 team , No SEC team .
Even the ACC team not being from the traditional basketball centric area ( Tobacco Road) diminished the interest from that casual ACC fans.
Compare those fan bases to
CUSA , MW , and even the Big East
There is a reason those conferences have huge media deals . They have huge fan bases . I’m sure the hard core basketball fans from those areas were watching but without a local interest you lose a lot of casual fans.
It would be interesting to see a breakdown by area compared to previous years .
If Alabama made it instead of SDSU
That would have been an extra 1million or more. Except to serious BB fans it’s more about the team than the basketball When UConn is the biggest name school in the final for those numbers aren’t shocking

A 9 :15 Eastern , 8:15 central 7:15 Mountain and 6:15 Pacific/ also AZ
for a 2+ hr game is not a late start
even if you had to work in the East.
It not football or Baseball

 

[nelsonmuntz]

No B1G team , no B12 team , no PAC 12 team , No SEC team .
Even the ACC team not being from the traditional basketball centric area ( Tobacco Road) diminished the interest from that casual ACC fans.
Compare those fan bases to
CUSA , MW , and even the Big East
There is a reason those conferences have huge media deals . They have huge fan bases . I’m sure the hard core basketball fans from those areas were watching but without a local interest you lose a lot of casual fans.
It would be interesting to see a breakdown by area compared to previous years .
If Alabama made it instead of SDSU
That would have been an extra 1million or more. Except to serious BB fans it’s more about the team than the basketball When UConn is the biggest name school in the final for those numbers aren’t shocking

A 9 :15 Eastern , 8:15 central 7:15 Mountain and 6:15 Pacific/ also AZ
for a 2+ hr game is not a late start
even if you had to work in the East.
It not football or Baseball

It is a stretch to take a shot at the Big East using the fact that a mid-major ish program that is located in paradise (and therefore does not generate great fan interest on its best days) and at various points in the 48 hours leading up to the game was the biggest underdog in over 25 years, did not rock the ratings.

San Diegans do not focus much on indoor sports when the weather is 75 and sunny 350 days of the year.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Outside of the northeast there wasn't a whole lot to attract a large audience.

The outcome was basically viewed as a foregone conclusion.

No compelling story lines.

The west coast, especially California and more specifically southern California doesn't have a strong track record watching sports events.

Traditional strong college basketball viewership areas in the south and midwest felt completely disconnected with the tournament by the sweet sixteen.

I believe that the main reason there was any viewership at all was because of us.

 

[Rocktheworld]

If UConn played Duke in the title game, it would have had great ratings. This is about SDSU more than anything.

What if it was Duke-SDSU?

I think another thing that is kind of baked in to blue blood status is a national following. KU, UCLA, Duke, UNC, UK…

We are still a regional program and, although surely more popular than the other teams in the final four (if not even the elite eight), we don’t have quite the pull of those programs.

 

[Husky25]

If UConn played Duke in the title game, it would have had great ratings. This is about SDSU more than anything.

It's also about how UConn played through the Tournament and vs. OOC opponents.

UConn lead by 16 in the 1st half and by 12 at halftime. The people on this board and within the state boundaries of CT may have recalled SDSU's last second comeback on Saturday, but anyone without skin in the game would be perfectly content to get a full night's sleep and catch highlights off YouTube in the morning...just like any number of us did last year.

I'd also posit that compiling viewership ratings is increasingly subjective, bordering on arbitrary.

The 1979 Championship game drew over 40M viewers when the US population was about 225 Million. The Population today is approaching 330 million and not only are there hundreds more TV channels, there is about a dozen ways to take in the game.

 

[dogpause]

Our dominance over our previous opponents was a factor. Glad we were able to contribute.

 

[imno1]

Do they take into account online viewers?

 

[Waquoit]

San Diegans do not focus much on indoor sports when the weather is 75 and sunny 350 days of the year.

I remember Pete Rose talking about the meager fanbase in SD. "I don't blame them. Do you know how many beaches they have there? And some of them are nude beaches!"

 

[UofCT]

Insert YAWN emoji. The place had 70K people in the building. The atmosphere was unreal. Maybe the NCAA shouldn't have a game where the headliner is an east coast school that starts at 9:30pm.

 

[UCTitleTown]

I also don't think UConn is a love it or hate it school for most college basketball fans. If Duke or Kentucky was playing, the college basketball fans who don't root for either school would watch to cheer for an SDSU win and the ratings would be better.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Was it just largely because it started late at night, or, was it a lack of national interest in the game.

https://www.si.com/college/2023/04/05/uconn-san-diego-state-national-championship-game-low-tv-ratings

Late start was a terrible idea. Needs to be 8:20 not 9:20. People on the west coast don't watch sports, they jog. San Diego State wasn't much of a draw, just a meh team with a boring style. FAU and UConn would have set up more of a David and Goliath story, plus it would be more exciting.

 

[Spaceman213J]

The 9:20 start removes a bunch of casual fans from the east coast. If you're not a passionate fan why even start watching a game you won't be up to finish
Can say the same about a lot of east coast kids as well.
Outside of CT or the fan base, there wasn't really a marquee name to sell the game on. Hawk has been on the rise, but I'm surprised by how many pretty knowledgable fans I know could not name a single player from either team. A few knew "the tall dude who grew up near ESPN headquarters"
The absolute destruction of the vast majority of fans brackets also player a role, I'm willing to bet It was a down year for the old guard blue bloods and most lost early to teams that had people going "Who?" When fans teams are knocked out early, many don't stick around for 2 more weeks when their teams are home already.
Finally, after the UConn drubbing of Gonzaga, at least non UConn fans I know here in VA thought it was just going to be a coronation.
.

 

[Umami Zen]

Up to the networks to sell the Finals.. Not the colleges.

 

[Hunt for 7]

We were just too good. I was on a lot of group texts during the fau v SDSU game that were just friends not UConn fans. But there were only two texts about the UConn game. 1) Hope second game is a good one also. 2) Nope after u we took ten point lead in first half. Most everyone even JC knew we were going to win. Just us hard core fans sweating every minute. No 0ne expected to be entertained.we were just too good!