Ratings crater for Deion Sanders’s Colorado Buffaloes in 2024

Under Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, the Colorado Buffaloes remain a big deal in Boulder. Nationally, they’re not moving the needle like they did a year ago.

As noted by John Ourand in his twice-weekly Puck newsletter, Anthony Crupi of Sportico recently shared the audience figures for Colorado’s first three games of 2024.

Overall, the numbers are down by 51 percent.

The average through three games is 4.56 million viewers. Last year, it was 9.35 million on average during the initial three contests.

The clearest apples-to-apples comparison came in the most recent game. Last year, Colorado-Colorado State did 9.3 million on ESPN. This year, the same game attracted 3.25 million on CBS Sports Network. That’s a 65-percent plunge.

It’s no surprise. Coach Prime was the flavor of the month last year at this time, leaving Jackson State after a successful run and landing with a big-time program.

The numbers will come around if the Buffaloes win. They embark on their Big 12 schedule on Saturday against Baylor, in a game televised by Fox. Only two more games after that are currently scheduled for a national audience — October 26 vs. Cincinnati on one of the Disney networks and November 29 vs. Oklahoma State on ABC.

Again, winning is the key. We’ll find out soon if they can improve on their 2-1 start once they focus on conference play.