30.1 million watched the CFB National Championship Miami/Indiana game

Trinton Breeze

Jan 22, 2026 1 min read

The 2026 College Football National Championship delivered massive numbers.

The title game featuring Miami and Indiana drew 30.1 million viewers, with a peak of 33.2 million, according to viewership data. Even with a loss in the national championship, it’s still impressing numbers.

Those numbers made it the second most-watched College Football Playoff National Championship game ever, and the second best cable telecast of all time. It also became the most-watched non-NFL sporting event since Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

If that’s not impressive enough, this year’s National Championship pulled in 8 million more viewers than last year’s game. Not bad, especially considering a lot of Hurricanes fans probably skipped last year anyway, it featured Ohio State and Notre Dame, two teams Miami fans HATE.

The U still carries real weight. Win or lose, when Miami is involved, people watch, and this championship game was another reminder of that.

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Comments (40)

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Gi0logy

Jan 22, 2026

8M more than OSU - ND last year. Nuts.

Unclejoey99

Jan 22, 2026

Gi0logy said:
8M more than OSU - ND last year. Nuts.

Who cares about those 2 sorry *** programs

9
90scane

Jan 22, 2026

Does that factor into the ACC viewership for revenue? Ha

coffeecane

Jan 22, 2026

Trinton Breeze said:
The 2026 College Football National Championship delivered massive numbers.

The title game featuring Miami and Indiana drew 30.1 million viewers, with a peak of 33.2 million, according to viewership data. Even with a loss in the national championship, it’s still impressing numbers.

Those numbers made it the second most-watched College Football Playoff National Championship game ever, and the second best cable telecast of all time. It also became the most-watched non-NFL sporting event since Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

If that’s not impressive enough, this year’s National Championship pulled in 8 million more viewers than last year’s game. Not bad, especially considering a lot of Hurricanes fans probably skipped last year anyway, it featured Ohio State and Notre Dame, two teams Miami fans HATE.

The U still carries real weight. Win or lose, when Miami is involved, people watch, and this championship game was another reminder of that.

Bigly

D
DamnLiesAndStatistics

Jan 22, 2026

90scane said:
Does that factor into the ACC viewership for revenue? Ha

Would be nice

DMoney

Jan 22, 2026

Biggest non-NFL sporting event since the Cubs winning Game 7 of the World Series a decade ago.

caneULM

Jan 22, 2026

That number is much lower had Miami not been playing. The U still draws attention.

Hoyacane1620

Jan 22, 2026

RozayCane

Jan 22, 2026

“College Football is better when the CANES ARE BACK”

cway313

Jan 22, 2026

Canes = can't miss TV

Handsome Squidbum

Jan 22, 2026

I don't think this is getting enough recognition and praise. Indiana isn't a football school, the country wasn't tuning to watch them. The game got the 2nd highest rating ever because Miami was playing.

ESPN and SEC are going to remember that in couple years when we buy our way out of the ACC.

TriStarCane

Jan 22, 2026

I think both teams played a part in the numbers. Indiana has a huge alumni base. Miami is a national brand. There were star players. There was a huge turn around in Indiana and a high renaissance in Miami. Great storylines. Plus people got to see something new. Novelty doesn’t hurt. This is super cool for our program.

brcane1

Jan 22, 2026

30M viewers is more than all but 1 ACC team had during their entire regular season.

That one team was Miami.

S
skyman

Jan 22, 2026

Handsome Squidbum said:
I don't think this is getting enough recognition and praise. Indiana isn't a football school, the country wasn't tuning to watch them. The game got the 2nd highest rating ever because Miami was playing.

ESPN and SEC are going to remember that in couple years when we buy our way out of the ACC.

Not tryna knock our draw but Indiana semis blowout of Oregon out drew our thriller of game with Ole Miss.. I think the story of both teams made it an interesting matchup..Both teams benefited for sure

Handsome Squidbum

Jan 22, 2026

TriStarCane said:
Indiana has a huge alumni base.

I think football fans "hate watching" the Canes played a much bigger part.

TriStarCane

Jan 22, 2026

Handsome Squidbum said:
I think football fans "hate watching" the Canes played a much bigger part.

Hate watching = $$. That’s why all the best wrestling promoters know they you can’t make money without a great heel!

Handsome Squidbum

Jan 22, 2026

skyman said:
Not tryna knock our draw but Indiana semis blowout of Oregon out drew our thriller of game with Ole Miss.. I think the story of both teams made it an interesting matchup..Both teams benefited for sure

We also had a Thursday night game and Oregon-Indy had a Friday night game. Friday night nationally televised games are going to get better ratings.

brcane1

Jan 22, 2026

brcane1 said:
30M viewers is more than all but 1 ACC team had during their entire regular season.

That one team was Miami.

View attachment 354612

Only 16 teams drew more eyeballs that that in their entire regular season.

Indiana started behind Miami, so Miami likely got close to the overall #1 spot for the year.

filmcane

Jan 22, 2026

I guarantee you - if ND and Miami are both undefeated on Nov. 7th, it will be the most viewed regular season CFB game of all time. Now, that may not factor in a sliding scale for games from a long time ago that dealt with different population and broadcast factors, but as far as just raw numbers of eyeballs, THAT will be THE most watched reg season game EVER.

Seriously thinking of trying to get there for that one.