College Football
Viewership for the College Football Playoff has bounced back a bit, with both New Year’s Eve semifinals drawing a bigger television than the games last season. There were still far fewer people watching the semis than when they were played on New Year’s Day two seasons ago.
ESPN said Sunday that the Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl together drew a total live audience of 19.728 million and an 11.0 overnight TV rating. According to the network, the total viewers increased by 14 percent from last season and the average overnight TV rating was up 11 percent from last season’s semifinals, which were played on a Thursday.
Alabama’s 24-7 Peach Bowl victory against Washington, drew an 11.5 overnight rating for ESPN and ESPN2 and 19.814 total viewers, including those who streamed the game online. The total audience increased 24 percent compared to last season’s early semifinal, Oklahoma-Clemson.
Clemson’s 31-0 win over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl had a total live audience of 19.646 million and got a 10.5 overnight rating. The audience increased 4 percent from the late time slot last season, when Alabama shut out Michigan State.
NFL
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Chargers have fired Mike McCoy following a second straight last-place finish in the AFC West and a third straight season out of the playoffs.
The team announced McCoy’s firing about an hour after the Chargers lost 37-27 to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
McCoy had said in a postgame news conference he hoped to be back next year. He won’t get that chance.
John Spanos, the president of football operations, says in a statement that “our team’s disappointing performance has not matched this team’s potential and has fallen short of the demanding standards that we seek to impose throughout our organization.”
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke says he has been fired by the team.
Baalke confirmed the news on Sunday during his pregame interview with the team’s flagship radio station KNBR. The 49ers had no comment on Baalke’s announcement before the team’s season finale against Seattle.
ESPN reported Saturday night that both Baalke and coach Chip Kelly are expected to be fired after the season.
WNBA
A handful of WNBA players, including Essence Carson, Chelsea Gray and Jantel Lavender of the Los Angeles Sparks, were next door to a deadly shooting in a nightclub in Istanbul early Sunday morning.
An assailant believed to have been dressed in a Santa Claus costume opened fire at a nightclub in Istanbul during New Year’s celebrations, leaving at least 39 people dead and wounding 69 others in what the province’s governor described as a terror attack.
Carson had tweeted earlier in the evening that she was “stuck inside of the club because of ‘terror’ shooting in Istanbul. Praises to the most high.”
About two dozen WNBA players are in Turkey during their offseason playing in a league there.
The incident occurred a week after the WNBA started offering to its players a phone application to assist them in trying to stay safe while traveling overseas.
The league has partnered with LiveSafe, a safety communications platform, to provide a mobile security app to its 60-plus players competing in Russia, Turkey, China and other countries this offseason.
Associated Press
