The Ohio State Buckeyes have always been big, but this season it crossed into a different universe. The program not only attracted huge crowds to the stadiums, but it also pulled the entire country into its orbit, turning every major matchup into a national television event.
The Buckeyes proved that this wasn’t normal college football popularity. This was a historic ratings takeover that pushed Ohio State into the same conversation as America’s biggest sports broadcasts.
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That surge reached a peak when NFL insider Albert Breer highlighted the staggering viewership numbers surrounding Ohio State’s 2025 slate. The Buckeyes delivered multiple broadcast giants this season, including a massive 18.3 million-viewer audience for the Big Ten Championship on FOX and another top regular-season showdown that topped 18 million viewers.
Those figures don’t just place Ryan Day’s team ahead of other college programs, but plant the Buckeyes squarely above major U.S. pro-sports championships.
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The comparison is ruthless. The 2025 NBA Finals averaged just 10.27 million viewers, a historic low for the league. The 2025 MLB World Series rebounded to roughly 15.5 million viewers, yet still fell short of Ohio State’s biggest games.
That means the Buckeyes outdrew the NBA Finals by nearly eight million viewers and surpassed the World Series by almost three million. When a college program is smashing the numbers of two billion-dollar professional leagues on their biggest stages, the hierarchy is no longer the same.
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Ohio State’s rise signals a major shift in America’s sports-viewing habits. College football, which was once considered more regional and less commercially powerful, is now producing regular-season audiences strong enough to rival or exceed championship-level pro broadcasts.
Head Football Coach Ryan Day of the Ohio State Buckeyes
Head Football Coach Ryan Day of the Ohio State Buckeyes watches a field goal attempt during the second half of a college football game against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium on November 29, 2025, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Ohio State Buckeyes won the game 27-9. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)
And no team embodies that surge more than the Buckeyes. Their combination of brand power, national recognition, and competitive stakes has turned them into television’s most reliable ratings engine.
This season didn’t just mark a new chapter for Ohio State. It rewired the entire conversation about where the biggest audiences in American sports actually are. The Buckeyes didn’t merely make viewership history. They crushed the NBA Finals, they passed the World Series, and they announced that college football’s biggest brand now owns the country’s biggest screens.
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