College football’s Deion Sanders buzz has cooled, and the numbers are showing it.
When Sanders took over at Colorado in 2023, he instantly became one of the sport’s biggest draws. The Buffaloes weren’t elite on the field, but they were must-watch television. Fans kept showing up for Colorado games on ABC, ESPN and FOX, and the ratings reflected that surge in attention.
That appetite has not held up nearly as well in 2025. Front Office Sports reported that interest in Colorado football has been sliding, and the TV audience has gone with it.
On ESPN, the Buffaloes’ five games in 2023 averaged 6.1 million viewers, according to sources cited by the outlet. That number dropped to 3.4 million across four games in 2024, then sank again to 2 million viewers over seven games last season.
“Take the program’s recent history on ESPN. During the 2023 season, the five Colorado games televised by ESPN averaged 6.1 million viewers, say sources.
The next year, ESPN averaged 3.4 million over four games. During last season’s disaster, it fell to 2 million viewers over seven games.
That’s a 67% drop over a three-season span,” Front Office Sports noted.
The trend wasn’t isolated to ESPN, either. On Fox’s broadcast channel, Colorado games averaged 4.7 million viewers over the past three seasons, sources said. When Fox broadcast and FS1 are combined, the average came in at 3.8 million.
The story now is simple: if Colorado wants that attention back, the Buffaloes are going to have to win. The early Deion Sanders novelty has already done its job.
What comes next depends on whether Colorado can look like a premier team again. Right now, that remains an open question.
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