COLUMBUS, Ohio – Millions tune in to see the Buckeyes beat Oregon for college football’s national championship, senators and a furniture store settle their bets…more post-game notes from the College Football Playoff Championship.
The new College Football Playoff was the kind of ratings success usually associated with the zombie apocalypse.
Ohio State’s 42-20 victory over Oregon on Monday averaged nearly 33.4 million viewers on ESPN, the largest audience in cable TV history.
The network said Tuesday that’s up 31 percent from the almost 25.6 million for Florida State’s win over Auburn last year in the final title game of the BCS era. The two semifinals had set the previous mark for the most viewers ever on cable.
The 18.2 rating Monday was the second-highest for a title game, behind the massive 21.7 for the 2006 classic between Texas and Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl.
The U.S. senators from Ohio and Oregon have settled their friendly bet, with Oregon’s senators showing support for the winning Ohio State Buckeyes on the U.S. Capitol steps.
Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon joined Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown (pictured far left) and Rob Portman (far right) Tuesday in spelling out “O-H-I-O” to settle up.
Brown and Portman would have had to learn to “throw the O” alongside the Oregon Duck on the Capitol steps if Oregon had triumphed.
The Buckeye’s national title means a big win totaling nearly $1.5 million for hundreds of furniture buyers in Ohio and Kentucky.
Morris Furniture Co. Inc. in suburban Dayton ran a promotion at 15 Morris Home Furnishings and Ashley Furniture HomeStores in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati in Ohio and in Florence, Kentucky.
It offered refunds to customers buying at least $1,999 in furniture, mattresses and accessories from Dec. 17 to Jan. 1 if Ohio State beat Oregon by at least 7 points.
A company that underwrites such promotions provided Morris with the refund money for a percentage of the sales, company spokesman Rob Klaben said. He says about 500 shoppers should qualify for the refunds.