As the nation welcomed in 2024, football fans were glued to their TVs for the College Football Playoff (CFP) semifinal bowl games—including the intense Rose Bowl ending in overtime. ESPN PR released viewership stats for the nail-biting game between Alabama and Michigan, and they’re pretty impressive. Keep reading for all the details.

The Rose Bowl’s viewership stats

According to a social media post from ESPN PR, the Rose Bowl had 27.2 million viewers. To put that in context, the Sugar Bowl matchup between Washington and Texas had 18.4 million viewers.

Here are some additional stats that ESPN listed, showing how highly-anticipated the Alabama-Michigan face-off was.

Top 10 cable telecast of all-time
Best semifinal since the first year of the CFP
Best non-NFL sporting event since 2018
Best peak viewership (32.8 million) of any CFP semifinal

Yep, it was a pretty big deal.

In addition, the Rose Bowl had the most in-person attendance of any bowl game this season according to Sports Business Journal. At 96,371 attendees, the 2024 Rose Bowl blew the others out of the water—the Peach Bowl (71,230), Cotton Bowl (70,114) and Sugar Bowl (68,791) included.

Even though Alabama fans were sorely disappointed after the overtime loss to Michigan, there’s always next season—and it’s looking hopeful. We’ve got a Rose Bowl recap for you, plus some thoughts on the Crimson Tide’s 2024 season.

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