Kentucky and Notre Dame played a masterful, all time classic game Saturday night in the Elite Eight. With its last second win, Kentucky stayed undefeated and reserved a spot in the Final Four.
But the game was much more than an instant classic, it was a record setter.
According to NCAA.com, the Midwest Regional final averaged an 8.4/16 U.S. HH rating/share and the 14.7 million total views made it the highest-rated most watched program in the history of TBS. When the game peaked with 19.7 million viewers it became the most watched college basketball game ever to be broadcast on cable TV.
Last night’s Kentucky/Notre Dame game on TBS was the highest rated and most viewed college basketball game of all time on cable TV
— March Madness TV (@MarchMadnessTV) March 29, 2015
That classic Elite Eight matchup wasn’t the only ratings winner for CBS. Sunday’s games featuring matchups between Michigan State/Louisville and Duke/Gonzaga helped the network achieve its highest average rating since 2005. Through the Elite Eight more people than ever, over 71 million of them to be exact have used the March Madness Live platform to stream Tournament games. The 71 million viewers broke last year’s record of 69.7 million streaming viewers.
This is great news for CBS/Turner, who signed a $10.8 billion dollar deal with the NCAA in 2010 to have the rights to broadcast the month long 68 team competition.
But with so many viewing options and so many more people now watching either on TV or streaming, has attendance to the actual games been affected at all? Over the last ten years, the Tournament has seen attendance rise and fall like a wave coming ashore at the beach. Since 2005, the average attendance for every game of the tournament has been 18,295. The lowest attended Tournament occurred in 2006 while the highest attended Tournament was in 2013.
2013 saw a still record average of 22,233 fans make their way into the arena’s to watch the 68 team field compete.
Average Attendance From All NCAA Tournament Games
Year ; Average Attendance ; Change ; Final Four Site
2005 ; 19695 ; – ; St. Louis
2006 ; 19150 ; -545 ; Indianapolis
2007 ; 19914 ; 764 ; Atlanta
2008 ; 21817 ; 1903 ; San Antonio
2009 ; 20237 ; -1580 ; Detroit
2010 ; 19186 ; -59 ; Indianapolis
2011 ; 19186 ; -992 ; Houston
2012 ; 19922 ; 736 ; New Orleans
2013 ; 22233* ; 2311 ; Atlanta
2014 ; 20533 ; -1700 ; North Texas
10 year average: 18295
*Attendance record
Figures provided by NCAA.org
While this years Tournament is not yet complete and the attendance figure have not been tallied, overall the record setting viewership outside of the arena does not seem to have yet had any affect attendance. According to syracuse.com, this years Elite Eight games averaged 20,987 fans in attendance from all four sites.
2015 Elite Eight Attendance
Site ; Announced Attendance
Cleveland ; 19465
Houston ; 21168
Los Angeles ; 18909
Syracuse ; 24404
Average ; 20987
Figures provided by syracuse.com
As time passes on and technology improves, there will still be a core group of fans who would rather experience the event live instead of on their couch. It is because of this core group, that live sporting events are not going anywhere, no matter how many people are watching on television or any other platform. But as more and more people watch through various platforms, it is clear that the $10.4 billion spent by CBS to secure the rights were worth every penny.
Feature image courtesy of Gregory Shamus, Getty Images
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