A college basketball game in a pro football arena turned out to be a ratings winner as the Horns 103-90 win over the Tar Heels drew almost 3 million viewers to the ESPN Telecast.
The game drew a 2.1 rating to go with over 2.9 million viewers, making it the most-viewed early season game (October through December) on ESPN in three years.
The Texas-North Carolina Game is the highest rated, most-viewed college basketball telecast of the season on any network, broadcast or cable.
The Big 12 currently has the #1 and #2 teams in the nation and ESPN is poised to take advantage of the situation on its Big Monday schedule. There are eight Big 12 matchups scheduled beginning Jan 11, 2010, and seven of the eight will involve either Kansas or Texas -- or both. Kansas visits Texas on Feb. 8th as part of the ESPN lineup.