ESPN’s Indiana-Kansas, Armed Forces Classic Overtime Game Posts Top Viewership in Five-Year History

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ESPN’s Indiana-Kansas, Armed Forces Classic Overtime Game Posts Top Viewership in Five-Year History

Photo of Rachel Margolis Siegal Rachel Margolis Siegal Follow on Twitter November 14, 2016
Maui, HI - November 24, 2015 - Lahaina Civic Center: Coach Tom Crean of the Indiana University Hoosiers during the 2015 Maui Invitational
  • First Game of Doubleheader – Michigan State-Arizona Nets Third-Highest Viewership
  • ESPN’s Men’s College Basketball Action Continues with Champions Classic Tuesday

The second game of ESPN’s Armed Forces Classic doubleheader – No. 11 Indiana’s 103-99 overtime, upset-win against No. 3 Kansas on college basketball’s opening night – is the most-watched game in the five-year history of the event with a total live audience (TV + streaming) of 1,592,000 viewers. The first game of the doubleheader – No. 10 Arizona’s 65-63 thrilling victory against No. 12 Michigan State – is now the third-most watched with a total live audience of 1,222,000 viewers behind the inaugural Armed Forces Classic in 2012 featuring UConn’s upset over Michigan State (1,290,000 viewers).

The 2016 Armed Forces Classic – originated from the Stan Sheriff Center on the campus of the University of Hawaii in Honolulu with surrounding events at the U.S. Navy Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam – was played on Veterans Day, November 11, just under a month from the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Armed Forces Classic is owned and operated by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN. The annual event is scheduled to continue for the foreseeable future with the 2017 event returning to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, featuring Texas A&M against West Virginia.

Additional information can be found in the overnight ratings release here.

Men’s College Basketball: Blockbuster Doubleheader, Champions Classic on ESPN Tuesday
Michigan State and Kansas now travel to take part in ESPN’s premier early-season college basketball event showcasing four of the all-time winningest programs for the sixth straight year in the State Farm Champions Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 15. The neutral-site blockbuster doubleheader – staged from Madison Square Garden in New York City – pits No. 2 Kentucky vs. No. 13 Michigan State at 7 p.m. and No. 1 Duke vs. No. 7 Kansas at 9:30 p.m. – all on ESPN.

 

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Photo of Rachel Margolis Siegal Rachel Margolis Siegal Follow on Twitter November 14, 2016
Photo of Rachel Margolis Siegal

Rachel Margolis Siegal

A part of the Internal Communications team at ESPN, I began with the network in 2010 as part of the College Sports PR team. Always an avid sports fan and not an athlete – I grew up a huge fan of the Hartford Whalers, while also watching my brother compete at different levels. I became the manager of several high school sports teams and continued that hobby into college. While at Quinnipiac, I worked in the Sports Information Department, which led me to a summer internship at the New Haven Ravens, a AA baseball team, and an eventual job with the Athletic Communications Department at the University of Connecticut. After my five-year stint at Connecticut, I spent six years as Director of Communications at the BIG EAST Conference in Providence, R.I. before joining ESPN.
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