College football television ratings are down sharply this season after years of steady growth. FBS game broadcasts are averaging 1.6 million viewers across all Nielsen-rated networks through the first nine weeks of the 2025 season, an 11% decline compared with the same stretch a year earlier, according to Nielsen data provided to Front Office Sports.
The slide was underscored last weekend when Game 7 of the WNBA Finals drew 3.3 million viewers on USA Network — more than any college football game aired on cable that Saturday. The comparison is notable because USA Network is generally considered a weaker platform than ESPN or the other major cable outlets that typically carry college football.
A weaker nonconference slate
The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel has pointed to a less compelling September schedule as one driver of the decline. The 48 nonconference games tracked so far on the five major networks averaged 3.2 million viewers, down 9% from last season. Conference games fared somewhat better, falling 4.9%.
Mandel noted that some of the drop can be attributed to matchups simply being less competitive than in prior years. Last season’s Week 1 game between LSU and Clemson on ABC was a close, top-10 showdown that LSU won 17-10, drawing 10.5 million viewers — the fourth-highest audience for any nonconference game that season. This year’s rematch was lopsided, with LSU winning 51-10 against an unranked Clemson team coming off a 7-6 season. That game drew nearly half the audience, at 5.7 million viewers.
Big Ten struggles compound the problem
Mandel also pointed to disappointing performances from several marquee Big Ten programs as a factor in October’s ratings slump. Oregon, Penn State, Michigan, and, until last weekend, USC, all underperformed, turning what could have been a strong month of matchups into what Mandel described as
