Posted on: Tuesday, October 30, 2001

UH football
Hawai'i-Fresno State game seen in 1 million households

Advertiser Staff

More than one million households tuned into Friday's University of Hawai'i-Fresno State football game, an ESPN spokesman said yesterday.

Michael Hume of ESPN said the game did a 1.23 rating, the equivalent of being viewed in 1,044,000 homes. That was slightly higher than the 1.20 of previous week's Friday night audience that watched Boise State end the Bulldogs' run at the Bowl Championship Series.

"The (Hawai'i) game did a good number," Hume said. "Especially for a 10 p.m. (Eastern time) kickoff." The FSU-Boise State game was an 8 p.m. eastern time kickoff.

Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson called the UH-FSU rating, "a good, solid number. I think the last two weeks demonstrate college football is attractive to the viewers on a Friday night. We're very pleased with that audience."

Hume said ESPN averaged a .94 rating between 8 p.m. and midnight eastern time on Fridays in September through November last year.

ESPN is scheduled to show the Dec. 8 UH-Brigham Young game, and has been considering the Nov. 24 UH-Air Force game. The chances of ESPN picking up the Air Force game and moving it to Nov. 23 might have been hurt by the Falcons' loss to New Mexico Saturday.