A close, high-scoring national championship game delivered strong numbers for ESPN

The Alabama/Clemson College Football Playoff National Championship Game drew a 16.0 overnight rating on the ESPN family of networks Monday night, down 14% from Ohio State/Oregon last year (18.9) but up 2% from the Florida State/Auburn BCS title game in 2014 (15.7). ESPN alone had a 15.8 overnight.

The 16.0 overnight is the third-highest for any program in the history of ESPN, behind Ohio State/Oregon last year and the 2011 Auburn/Oregon title game on ESPN alone (16.1). Among college football championship games, however, it ranks just 11th out of the 18 since the formation of the BCS.

Compared to other sports, Alabama’s coronation ranked behind last year’s Duke/Wisconsin college basketball championship on CBS (17.1) but edged last year’s top NBA Finals game on ABC (15.9) and the Women’s World Cup final on FOX (15.2).

Birmingham led all markets with a 59.2 rating, up 6% from Auburn’s loss to FSU in 2014 (55.8) and up 7% from Alabama’s win over Notre Dame in 2013 (55.1). Greenville, SC ranked second (39.0), followed by Atlanta (30.1), Nashville (29.1) and Knoxville (28.4).

(Mon. numbers from ESPN)