2026 College Football Deep Dive

College Football By The Numbers: How To Score Big For Your Business This Season

College football is back in action! Millions of fans are looking for a place to watch the games all season long. If you’re a sports bar or restaurant owner, you don’t want to be left on the sidelines. College football is a huge opportunity to tap into this passionate fan base and score a win for your bottom line.

Check out our college football deep dive to get an inside look at what games fans are watching, who is driving record-breaking viewership and which DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS® sports package can help make the 2026 college football season a winner for your business.

Ready to gear up for a great season of college football? Check out our DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS sports packages today!

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College Football By The Numbers

College football reached record audiences during the 2025 season:

More than 179 billion minutes of college football were watched across Nielsen-rated networks, up 9% year over year.
Viewership among fans ages 18-34 increased 15% year over year, highlighting the sport’s growing appeal among younger audiences.
The expanded College Football Playoff delivered record-breaking audiences across its First Round and New Year’s Six matchups.

What Networks Are Fans Watching College Football On?

College football delivered strong audiences across national and conference networks during the 2025 season:

ESPN networks averaged 2.2 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU-their best college football season since 2011. ABC averaged a sport-leading 6.9 million viewers, up 19%, while ESPN increased 14%, ESPN2 increased 18% and ESPNU increased 23%.
FOX averaged 3.4 million viewers, up 12%. Its Big Noon Saturday window averaged 6.3 million viewers, up 11%, while FS1 averaged 465,000 viewers, up 12%.
NBC averaged 3.2 million viewers across its Big Ten and Notre Dame games, down 2%. Notre Dame games averaged 3.6 million viewers, up 35%, while NBC’s Big Ten games averaged 3.1 million.
CBS averaged 3.1 million viewers overall, down 3%. Its Big Ten games averaged 3.7 million viewers, up 2%.
Big Ten Network averaged 699,000 viewers-its second-best season behind only 2018-and delivered a conference-record nine games with more than one million viewers.
The CW averaged 456,000 viewers, up 10%, while its ACC audiences increased 26%.
TNT Sports averaged 337,000 viewers during its debut Big 12 season, with audiences for intra-conference matchups increasing 87%.

Who Is Watching College Football?

According to a college football fans’ playbook by KORTX, most college football viewers are between the ages of 18 and 55 years old, with the 35-year-old to 44-year-old demographic showing the highest engagement. Fans are more likely to be college-educated and are 1.6 times more likely than the average U.S. population to earn over $100,000 annually. It’s not just men who are watching college football. According to the playbook, women are more active in social media engagement for college sports.

That audience is also getting younger: viewership among fans ages 18-34 increased 15% year over year during the 2025 season.

Big football schools like Alabama, LSU, Michigan and Ohio State each have over 3 million social followers, with several schools having more social media followers than NFL teams, as reported by The New York Times.

Pride for college football runs deep. Fans love the traditions, school spirit and community camaraderie that come with watching college football. For alumni and students alike, it’s about more than just cheering for a team; it’s part of their identity.

Check out our article on Your Playbook To Winning Over College Football Fans.

What Are The Most Watched College Football Games?

It’s not enough to just put on college football games and hope that fans will show up to watch at your sports bar or restaurant. You need to strategize which games can help bring in the largest crowds and support food and beverage sales. From Rivalry Week to Bowl Season to the College Football Playoff, DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS has the games fans want to watch.

Rivalry Week

Rivalry Week continues to produce some of college football’s biggest audiences. The 2025 matchups included:

Michigan-Ohio State on FOX: 18.4 million viewers
Texas-Texas A&M on ABC: 13 million viewers
Auburn-Alabama on ABC: 11.3 million viewers
Georgia-Georgia Tech on ABC: 8.8 million viewers

Bowl Season

Bowl season gives football fans even more reasons to gather as conference standouts and top-ranked teams meet in marquee postseason matchups. Businesses can use the DIRECTV Football schedule to find current game dates, networks and times throughout the 2026-27 postseason.

College Football Playoff

The expanded College Football Playoff delivered record-breaking audiences during the 2025-26 postseason.

First Round audiences included:

Alabama-Oklahoma: 14.9 million viewers, the most-watched CFP First Round game on record
Miami-Texas A&M: 14.8 million viewers
Tulane-Ole Miss: 6.2 million viewers

New Year’s Six quarterfinal audiences included:

Rose Bowl-Alabama vs. Indiana: 23.9 million viewers, the most-viewed CFP game of the 12-team era and up 13% year over year
Cotton Bowl-Miami vs. Ohio State: 23.9 million viewers, up 37% from the 2024-25 New Year’s Eve quarterfinal
Sugar Bowl-Ole Miss vs. Georgia: 18.7 million viewers, with a peak audience of 21.4 million and an 18% year-over-year increase
Orange Bowl-Oregon vs. Texas Tech: 15.9 million viewers

College Football By Conference & How To Watch

DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS has the SEC, Big Ten and ACC games college football fans want to watch. Check out the latest audience results and how to follow each conference with DIRECTV.

SEC By The Numbers

ABC averaged a sport-leading 6.9 million viewers during the 2025 season, up 19%, with its performance fueled in part by the SEC package.
ESPN networks averaged 2.2 million viewers-their strongest college football season since 2011-with the SEC among the conferences delivering audience gains.

Watch with the Southeastern Conference Network (SECN)

Make sure your customers can catch SEC football games and more. SECN brings viewers 24/7 conference coverage and thousands of live events across SEC sports, including college football. Fans also get access to SEC-focused programming such as SEC Nation and SEC Storied.

Big Ten By The Numbers

NBC’s Big Ten games averaged 3.1 million viewers.
Big Ten games on CBS averaged 3.7 million viewers, up 2%.
Big Ten Network averaged 699,000 viewers and delivered a conference-record nine games with more than one million viewers.

Watch on the Big Ten Network (BTN)

Big Ten Network provides comprehensive coverage of the conference’s 18 schools from coast to coast, with live events, original programming, highlights, analysis and more. Its lineup includes Big Ten college football along with men’s and women’s basketball and other conference sports.

ACC By The Numbers

Audiences for ACC games on The CW increased 26%.
The CW delivered its five most-watched regular-season college football games to date, led by Baylor-SMU with 1.13 million viewers.
The ACC was among the conferences posting audience gains across ESPN networks.

Watch on the Atlantic Coast Conference Network (ACCN)

Give your customers ACC excitement through ACC Network. Subscribers can enjoy games from across the conference’s 28 sponsored sports, including college football, plus news, original programming and in-studio analysis.

Ready to get started? Check out our college sports packages today!

Become the Ultimate College Football Hangout With DIRECTV MVP

DIRECTV MVP is here to help market your business as the ultimate college football headquarters. The program offers easy-to-use marketing solutions and tools designed to help promote game-day events and attract fans.

Bar & Restaurant Marketing Materials

DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS customers can visit DIRECTV MVP to explore available college sports marketing materials. Current options may include posters, banners, table-top materials, drinkware and digital assets that help businesses promote the season.

Weekly Sports Schedule

DIRECTV MVP makes it easy to find college games and channels with premium sports schedules. This allows you and your employees to stay ahead of the latest college sports programming, up to seven days in advance. Schedules can be customized to your local channels using your ZIP Code.

DIRECTV Sports Bar Finder

Sports Bar Finder is an easy way to help grow your customer fan base. Customers can search their location for bars and restaurants showing the games they want to see, along with team affiliations, watch parties and more. DIRECTV customers receive an automatic listing for bars with ESPN or a premium sports package. Listings can also include Yelp ratings, customer reviews and photos to help fans find your business.

Learn more about how to step up your business game with DIRECTV MVP.

Score Big This Season With DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS

Gear up for football season with a touchdown-worthy sports package from DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS. With ESPN+ for BUSINESS, NFL Sunday Ticket and more, we can help you find the right college and pro football programming for your business. With 99% worry-free signal reliability, hassle-free customer service and complimentary standard professional installation, you can focus on creating a game-day experience your customers will enjoy.

Call 888.303.9117 to get started today!