Sugar Bowl Up; Combined Overnight Ratings for Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl & Sugar Bowl Rises Over 2012

The overnight rating for ESPN's Allstate Sugar Bowl telecast - No. 21 Louisville defeating No. 3 Florida 33-23 - is up 2 percent over last year. The game, which saw Louisville hold a 30-10 lead heading into the fourth quarter, averaged a 6.4 overnight rating. The 2012 Allstate Sugar Bowl, No. 13 Michigan defeating No. 11 Virginia Tech 23-20 in overtime, averaged a 6.3 metered market rating.

ESPN's first three Bowl Championship Series telecasts of 2013 - the Rose Bowl Game Presented by VIZIO, Discover Orange Bowl and Allstate Sugar Bowl - combined is averaging a 7.5 metered market rating, according to Nielsen. The three-game average marks an increase of 9 percent over a 6.9 average overnight rating for the corresponding three BCS bowls in 2012.

In the markets of participating teams, the Allstate Sugar Bowl was the highest-rated ESPN bowl game telecast in Louisville on record (back to 2000) with a 28.4 average rating. It was also the third highest-rated ESPN bowl game telecast in Jacksonville (16.0 rating) and Orlando (14.1 rating) behind the 2012 and 2011 BCS National Championship games, respectively, in each market. The telecast also averaged a 23.5 in Birmingham, 17.2 in New Orleans, 12.4 in Knoxville, 12.1 in Atlanta, 12.0 in Tampa and 11.5 in West Palm Beach.

ESPN & the BCS

ESPN's third year of exclusive coverage of the five BCS matchups will continue tonight with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (Thursday, Jan. 3) and Discover BCS National Championship Game (Monday, Jan. 7). Overall, ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes and WatchESPN will present all five BCS Bowl games with ESPN 3D also televising Allstate Sugar Bowl and Discover BCS National Championship Game.