Colorado being ‘relevant’ in Week 1 paid off in ‘big way’ for broadcaster

Colorado football staying “relevant” — and certainly being more than just that in the Buffs’ 45-42 upset win over TCU — in FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff Week 1 game paid off in a big way for the broadcaster relayed OutKick’s Zach Dean, who shared that it helped his parent company outpace Disney/ESPN in ratings for the weekend.

“FOX rolled the dice on Deion Sanders making Colorado relevant in Week 1 of the college football season, and it paid off in a massive way,” Dean prefaced before saying, “Couple that with the disastrous Disney-Spectrum dispute that caused massive ESPN blackouts across the country, and it was a BANNER weekend for the good guys (that’s us!).

“The TV numbers are in, they’ve been crunched, and when they came back out the other side the data was clear: people were obsessed with Colorado’s upset bid in Fort Worth Saturday, and the only thing that saved Disney and ESPN over the first weekend was Sunday night’s LSU-FSU game.”

Coach Prime’s Colorado football debut does massive ratings for FOX

The debut of Deion Sanders and the numerous star Colorado football transfers he brought with him, the Louis Vuitton if you will, from Jackson State did massive numbers for FOX — pulling in a staggering 7.272 million viewers. Only FSU-LSU, which didn’t have any competition in the sport like Coach Prime’s Buffs debut did, had more viewers on Sunday night.

That that many people were able to see Colorado pick up one of the biggest upsets of the weekend will likely keep the viewership high for CU’s future contests; most certainly including the Week 2 matchup with former fierce rival Nebraska, which doubles as Sanders’ Boulder debut, which is also a FOX Big Noon Kickoff game.

As the 2023 season progresses, so will the awareness of the Buffs brand. There’s never been a season like this one for CU, now a national brand with the sport’s most charismatic coach.