ESPN bowl games a ratings bust

The Rose Bowl audience was off 14 percent, the Fiesta Bowl 22 percent, the Capital One Bowl 50 percent. The Orange and Sugar Bowls also lost viewers. ESPN, which aired all these games, insists that the the lower numbers were more the result of lousy games than the switch from broadcast to cable. Er, yeah, but the Outback Bowl, which moved from ESPN to ABC, saw huge growth. (LAT)