Here is an analysis of the numbers for BC TV ratings last year.
First, lets look at Notre Dame's ratings last year to see how BC stacked up.
A couple of caveats. Notre Dame's games were mostly broadcast at 3:30 PM or 7:30/8 PM. (I excluded the 9 AM Navy game from Ireland.)
Clearly, the 7:30/8 PM games had better ratings, but also, the competition for viewers was tougher for some games vs others. I will highlight the competition for some games to help better understand the ratings.
ND vs Michigan St. 8 PM ABC 5.0 million (Overlap with FL/TN, USC/Stanford, Texas/Ole Miss)
ND vs Michigan 7:30 PM NBC 6.4 million (Overlap with Clemson/FSU, LSU/Auburn, KSU/Oklahoma)
ND vs Miami 7:30 PM NBC 3.7 million (Overlap with Nebraska/Ohio St., WVU/Texas, FSU/NC St.)
ND vs Oklahoma 8 PM NBC 8.6 million
ND vs BC 8 PM ABC 5.8 million (Overlap with KSU/TCU, Miss St/LSU, Georgia/Auburn)
ND vs USC 8 PM ABC 16.1 million
ND vs Stanford 3:30 PM NBC 5.2 million
ND vs Pitt 3:30 PM NBC 6.0 million
ND vs Wake Forest 3:30 PM NBC 2.6 million
ND vs Purdue 3:30 PM NBC 2.8 million
My read on this is that BC performed middle of the pack with Notre Dame in a prime time setting with weaker football competition that night. ND/Miami had very difficult competition the night of their game. Most interesting is that the Pitt and Stanford game ratings were about in line with BC even though they started at 3:30 PM. My view is that people watch Notre Dame, not BC. Many middle of the pack schools would produce the same ratings as BC.
And, BC had two games on ESPN2 last year and they were not ratings bonanzas, even against the best teams in the ACC: (The BC/Miami game was split coverage last year so hard to conclude the individual game ratings.)
BC vs FSU 5:30 PM ESPN2 672k (Navy/Central Michigan had 884k for the next game on ESPN2. BC/FSU equaled Northwestern/Minnesota on ESPN2 that day)
BC vs Clemson 3:30 PM ESPN2 891k (South Carolina/Kentucky had 1.9 million for the next game on ESPN2.)
The above ratings are about equal to what the "reverse mirror" games on ESPN2 do at 3:30 PM. In other words, these games did as well as the ratings on ESPN2 when the out of market ABC game was shown in the reverse mirror. Imagine the ratings for the above time slots if the games were BC/WF, BC/Duke, or BC/Maryland?
People may remember the Doug Flutie days at BC, but those days have been over for almost 30 years. BC football today is not a big draw in the stands or on TV.