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UCF-Memphis AAC Championship Game TV Viewers Slightly Down from 2017

Knights’ thrilling victory still pulls solid numbers despite airing across from SEC Championship

NCAA Football: AAC Championship-Memphis at Central Florida Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

The UCF Knights’ 56-41 win over Memphis in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game this past Saturday was watched by 3.321 million viewers, good enough for a 2.1 rating on ABC, according to SportsMediaWatch.com.

The game was down down 9% in ratings and 2% in viewership from last year’s American Conference Championship Game, which had 3.385M viewers and a 2.3 rating last year’s double-overtime thriller kicked off at noon on ABC, compared to 3:30 this year on ABC, across from the SEC Championship on CBS between #1 Alabama and #4 Georgia.

That game was most-watched game of the season to date, getting a 10.1 rating with 17.499 million viewers on CBS, and the most-watched SEC title game since 2009, between Alabama and Florida.

Here is a breakdown of all the conference championship game numbers from the weekend on SportsMediaWatch.com.

UCF was The American’s TV draw in 2018 as the Knights were involved in five of the six most-watched American Conference games of the season, and five of the seven AAC games that drew over one million viewers.

Most-Watched AAC Games of 2018

Game Day Date Network Viewers Rating
Game Day Date Network Viewers Rating
Memphis at UCF Saturday 12/1/2018 ABC 3,321,000 2.1
Cincinnati at UCF Saturday 11/17/2018 ABC 3,124,000 1.9
UCF at Memphis Saturday 10/13/2018 ABC/ESPN2* 2,900,000 1.9
South Florida at Houston Saturday 10/27/2018 ABC/ESPN2* 2,000,000 1.4
UCF at South Florida Friday 11/23/2018 ESPN 1,741,000 N/A
Temple at UCF Thursday 11/1/2018 ESPN 1,191,000 0.8
South Florida at Tulsa Friday 10/12/2018 ESPN 1,170,000 0.7
Memphis at Tulane Thursday 10/4/2018 ESPN 738,000 0.48
Tulsa at Temple Thursday 9/20/2018 ESPN 728,000 0.48
Memphis at SMU Friday 11/16/2018 ESPN 623,000 0.37
*Regional split with Pac-12 game Data: SportsMediaWatch.com

It remains to be seen how these numbers will impact The American’s TV negotiations with ESPN and other TV networks in the near future. But one thing is for sure: UCF has benefited from the national platform ESPN and ABC have provided to the league compared to other conferences like Mountain West and Conference USA.