The ratings results are in for Super Bowl XLIV and not only did it garner HUGE viewership, but it actually dethroned the final episode of M*A*S*H as the most watched program in television history. Via Sports Media Watch....

The Saints' 31-17 win over the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV drew a 45.0/68 fast-national rating and 106.5 million viewers on CBS Sunday night, up 7% in ratings and 8% in viewership from Steelers/Cardinals on NBC last year (42.0/64, 98.7 mil), and up 4% and 9%, respectively, from Giants/Patriots on FOX in '08 (43.1/65, 97.4 mil).

Saints/Colts ranks as the most-viewed program in U.S. television history, topping the previous record of 106.0 million for the series finale of M*A*S*H in 1983.

Additionally, the 45.0 rating is the highest for any television program since Cowboys/Steelers drew a 46.0 in 1996.

To put the numbers in perspective, the Super Bowl drew over 70 million more viewers than the top non-NFL sporting event of the past 12 months -- the Texas/Alabama BCS National Championship Game (30.8 mil).

It was basically a formality, but the official numbers are out, and last night's Packers-Vikings game is officially the most watched cable program of all time, and is also the biggest audience ESPN has garnered in their thirty years as a network. The game ended up with a 15.3, which translates to 21.8 million viewers (P2+), and beat out the Eagles-Cowboys game from last year by 2.0 ratings points. Via ESPN PR....

Last night, ESPN’s Monday Night Football – the Minnesota Vikings’ 30-23 home victory over the Green Bay Packers in Brett Favre’s first game against his former team – delivered the biggest audience in the history of cable television and the highest rating in ESPN’s 30-year history. The game earned a 15.3 rating, representing 15,136,000 homes (21,839,000 P2+), surpassing the previous cable viewership record, ESPN’s Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys Monday Night Football telecast of September 15, 2008 (12,953,000 homes, based on a 13.3 rating, 18,608,000 P2+).

The game eclipsed ESPN’s previous best 14.4 rating (8,400,000 homes) for the Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings game on December 6, 1987, ESPN’s first season of NFL games. ESPN’s 90-minute Monday Night Countdown pre-game (7-8:30 p.m. ET) also recorded its best rating (3.5) and most-viewed show ever (3,476,000 households and 4,540,000 viewers). The previous best was a 3.3 rating (3,075,000 households, 4,056,000 P2+) on September 25, 2006.

The MNF game ranks as the No. 1 prime-time program (for cable or broadcast) among households, viewers and all key male and adult demos of the past two weeks, helping ESPN “win the night” Monday in all demographic audience categories among all networks, broadcast or cable. The game delivered a combined 58.3 rating in Minneapolis (17.5 on ESPN, 40.8 on KTSP-ABC) and a combined 49.7 rating in Milwaukee (13.6 on ESPN, 36.0 on WISN-ABC).

“Last night’s record-setting performance clearly demonstrates that big events on ESPN deliver big audiences with content across all our platforms,” said ESPN President George Bodenheimer. “In its 40th season, Monday Night Football remains a special place to showcase the NFL’s best.”

Not only are the national numbers impressive but in both Minnesota and Green Bay, almost half of the population of each city watched the contest. It'll be tough for any other game this season to approach those numbers, but the Saints and Pats in week twelve could come close.

It's been awhile since I've put up a ratings post, mainly because nothing's jumped out at me, but this one is worth noting. The Giants-Cowboys game this last Sunday night, is officially SNF's largest broadcast, and the largest primetime audience since 1997. Via SBD....

NBC earned a 15.1 final Nielsen rating and 24.817 million viewers for its "SNF" telecast featuring Giants-Cowboys from 8:31-11:50pm ET, marking the most-viewed "SNF" telecast ever. The first regular-season game ever at Cowboys Stadium also marked the most-watched NFL regular-season primetime game since Broncos-49ers earned 27 million viewers in December '97. Compared to the same week last year, Giants-Cowboys was up 39.8% and 39.2%, respectively, from a 10.8 rating and 17.834 million viewers for Steelers-Browns. The Giants-Cowboys audience was also up 84.2% over the Emmy Awards on CBS (13.471 million viewers). "SNF" was the No. 1 program of the week among broadcast networks in HHs and viewers.

While that certainly is amazing, the NFL probably isn't done yet, and could end up making numbers like it did in the 80s & 90s, this season. Week three has Atlanta at New England on FOX, Indy at Arizona on Sunday Night and the Cowboys Panthers on Monday Night. Week Four then has last year's huge matchup of the Ravens and Pats, as well as the Jets at Saints, and Brett Favre's return to Green Bay. We'll likely see record after record being broken this season.

Giants-Cowboys Draws Best NFL Primetime Audience Since '97

Both Pittsburgh and Detroit had been holding viewing parties inside and outside of their arenas for away games, but those fun times have come to an end. Last week you may have noticed a giant jumbotron screen missing from Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, and today comes word that the NHL told the team to remove it. Via Detroit News....

There will be no "Joe Vision" broadcast of Tuesday night's Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals because NBC would not rescind its exclusive rights to the telecast.

The game will not be shown at Pittsburgh's outdoor plaza either.

At issue is television ratings, and a large crowd at Joe Louis Arena could be hundreds -- if not thousands -- of television sets not tuned in to NBC.

"It is certainly something we wanted to show but were unable to secure the rights," said Steve Violetta, Senior Vice President of Business Affairs for the Wings.

NBC representative Brian Walker did not immediately return a phone message for comment, but NHL media relations vice president Frank Brown confirmed the situation while expressing sympathy to Red Wings fans.

"We are very much in tune and very sensitive to the great experience that fans have by coming to a great venue and watching a great hockey game," Brown said. "That said we need to be sensitive to the business end of things and that business is ratings driven."

Really? Really NBC? You're trying to make the argument that a thousand or so people not watching the game at home would cause a dip in the ratings? Really?!?! That's just idiotic. Ratings in those two cities will still be through the roof because it's a Game Six, and to deny Red Wings fans a chance to witness their team win the Cup in their own arena, is just plain wrong. Hopefully wiser heads prevail, but with the game starting at 8pm tonight, there's not much time to change the decision.

NBC blocks Joe Vision broadcast of Red Wings-Penguins (Detroit News)

The ratings for the NHL have been pretty solid throughout the Playoffs, and with the Finals now tied 2-2, they're only going to get better. On the heels of this great news, comes even more great news for NBC in that the NHL has decided to extend the contract with the network for another two years. Via Globe and Mail....

Now, NBC and the NHL are set to announce an extension to their relationship for another two years, past the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and Stanley Cup playoffs.

It will likely be a continuation of the no-money-down/split-revenues-after-costs arrangement that has existed since the two sides fell into each other's arms after the NHL lockout in 2004-05.

At that time, NBC got an inexpensive property to fill out its sports schedule, while the NHL got the perfume of network respectability after locking out its players and fans for a complete season.

Despite the hiccup of NBC switching away from a playoff overtime to a Kentucky Derby prep show in 2008, the relationship has worked reasonably well for both sides.

I still think NBC has to get their priorities straight when it comes to the use of Versus, but they've improved their broadcast over the last few years immensely. It also doesn't hurt that the star power is finally there for advertisers, and that the network is also airing the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

NBC, NHL set to extend broadcast deal (Globe and Mail)

Every year I take great pride in picking apart the Madden player ratings, and this year's crop of scores is pretty darn interesting. The biggest shock has to be Nnamdi Asomugha in a tie as the top defensive player with Albert Haynesworth), Polamalu and Ed Reed, but there are certainly a lot more to debate as well. Two to discuss are Donovan McNabb being higher than Philip Rivers, and DeAngelo Williams tied for the third best RB ahead of Portis, Jackson and Gore. Here are the top ten for each position....

Quarterbacks:

1. Peyton Manning- 99
2. Tom Brady- 98
3. Drew Brees- 97
4. Kurt Warner- 94
5. Ben Roethlisberger- 93
6. Donovan McNabb- 91
7. Philip Rivers- 88
8. Carson Palmer- 87
8. Jay Cutler- 87
8. Tony Romo- 87

Running Backs:

1. Adrian Peterson- 97
2. Michael Turner- 95
3. LaDainian Tomlinson- 94
3. Brian Westbrook- 94
3. DeAngelo Williams- 94
6. Clinton Portis- 93
7. Steven Jackson- 92
8. Frank Gore- 91
9. Brandon Jacobs- 90
9. Thomas Jones- 90

Wide Receivers:

1. Larry Fitzgerald- 99
2. Andre Johnson- 98
3. Steve Smith- 97
4. Randy Moss- 96
5. Reggie Wayne- 95
6. Anquan Boldin- 94
6. Roddy White- 94
8. Brandon Marshall- 92
8. Calvin Johnson- 92
10. Terrell Owens- 91

Tight Ends:

1. Tony Gonzalez- 98
2. Jason Witten- 97
3. Antonio Gates- 95
4. Chris Cooley- 91
4. Dallas Clark- 91
6. Kellen Winslow- 90 7. Heath Miller- 88 8. John Carlson- 87
9. Zach Miller- 86
9. Owen Daniels- 86

Defense:

1. Nnamdi Asomugha (CB, Oakland Raiders)- 99
1. Albert Haynesworth (DT, Washington Redskins) - 99
1. Ed Reed (S, Baltimore Ravens)- 99
1. Troy Polamalu (S, Pittsburgh Steelers)- 99
5. Patrick Willis (LB, San Francisco 49ers)- 98
5. Jared Allen (DE, Minnesota Vikings)- 98
5. DeMarcus Ware (LB, Dallas Cowboys)- 98
8. Kevin Williams (DT, Minnesota Vikings)- 97
8. Ray Lewis (LB, Baltimore Ravens)- 97
8. Julius Peppers (DE, Carolina Panthers)- 97

Madden '10 Ratings (ESPN Video Games)

This year's NBA Playoffs have been just as exciting as they have been lucrative. And even though the potential dream matchup between Kobe and Lebron is looking bleak, all parties involved shouldn't be upset at all. Thanks to long series, and great matchups, the ratings through 40 combined games on TNT and ESPN are up over 18% over 2008. Via Sports Business Daily....

TNT is averaging 4.310 million viewers through 40 NBA Playoffs telecasts through Sunday, up 18.7% from 3.631 million viewers for 39 telecasts at the same point in '08. Meanwhile, ESPN's 16 postseason telecasts have averaged 4.049 million viewers, up 10.1% from 3.679 million viewers for 18 telecasts at the same point last year. ESPN's 5.7 cable rating and 7.886 million viewers for Thursday's Nuggets-Lakers Western Conference Final Game Two also marked the net's second-most viewed basketball game ever. For the week of May 18-24, the five NBA Playoffs telecasts between TNT and ESPN marked the five most-viewed telecasts on all of cable.

This level of viewership hasn't been approached by the NBA in quite some time, and it's great to see the league slowly building it's ratings back up. Advertisers must be loving the long series, and with so many young stars in the game, it will only bring in more dollars to the networks.

TNT, ESPN Both Seeing Double-Digit Aud Increases For NBA Playoffs (Sports Business Daily - $)

Thanks to the eagle eye of a few viewers of the final round of the Masters yesterday, Total Pro Sports can share with us a "boob grab like no other". Tiger landed his approach on the 15th green, and a gentleman in the crowd decided to celebrate just a little too much with his lady friend....

Beautiful! There's nothing better than a public breast grabbing to show your excitement. I was going to do a post on the great finish, and the great ratings the Masters received, but I think that video is much better.

I was waiting until we got all the way through the Elite Eight before putting a ratings post up, and now that we're into the Final Four, here it is. Despite a lack of upsets, and even close games, CBS' ratings are almost entirely up across the board from 2008. Here are the regional semifinals and finals numbers via Sports Business Daily....

Thursday (Regional Semifinals)

Game 1: 2009- 6.2, 2008- 6.0, 2007- 6.4, 2006- 7.7, 2005- 6.9, 2004- 6.2
Game 2: 2009- 7.4, 2008- 5.9, 2007- 7.6, 2006- 7.3, 2005- 7.4, 2004- 7.2

Friday (Regional Semifinals)

Game 1: 2009- 5.7, 2008- 5.6, 2007- 6.2, 2006- 6.5, 2005- 7.7, 2004- 6.2
Game 2: 2009- 7.4, 2008- 5.2, 2007- 7.0, 2006- 6.9, 2005- 7.9, 2004- 7.0

Saturday (Regional Finals)

Game 1: 2009- 6.2, 2008- 5.4, 2007- 6.4, 2006- 6.0, 2005- 7.2, 2004- 5.3
Game 2: 2009- 7.5, 2008- 7.1, 2007- 7.3, 2006- 7.0, 2005- 9.1, 2004- 7.2

Sunday (Regional Finals)

Game 1: 2009- 5.9, 2008- 5.7, 2007- 6.3, 2006- 6.5, 2005- 7.2, 2004- 5.7
Game 2: 2009- 7.7, 2008- 9.3, 2007- 8.4, 2006- 8.5, 2005- 10.8, 2004- 9.1

8-DAY OVERNIGHT AVG. RATING

2009- 5.9, 2008- 5.5, 2007- 6.2, 2006- 6.1, 2005- 6.7, 2004- 5.9

Well, that's certainly good news, however the Final Four will probably not be seeing such an increase with some of the lesser seeded teams making it through. Although, that may not actually be true because the lower seeded teams do come from larger markets. We shall see.

CBS Averaging 5.9 Overnight Through Second Weekend Of Tourney (Sports Business Daily - $)

I wasn't one of them, but a lot of people tuned into the NBA All-Star Game yesterday. In fact, the game was up 6% over last year. Via TNT PR....

TNT's exclusive coverage of the 2009 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday delivered a 4.1 US HH Rating, representing a 6% increase from the prior year, and 6,855,000 Total Viewers, up 8% from last year's telecast, according to Nielsen's Fast Nationals. The West, led by co-MVP's Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, defeated the East Squad 146-119.

The event also delivered ratings growth in Homes (4,665,000), up 8% from last year, as well as key adult demographics, including:

* A18-34 (2,517,000) +10%
* A18-49 (4,033,000) +6%
* A25-54 (3,445,000) +12%

As far as All Star games go, the NBA one is by far the most entertaining, but it's still only about half of what the MLB gets.

Wow. I thought that the closeness of this year's game certainly helped it in the ratings, but there was no way I thought it would surpass last year's contest. Well according to NBC it has, and to the tune of 151.6 Million total viewers and 98.7 Million viewers on average. Via NBC PR....

TAMPA – Feb. 3, 2009 – Super Bowl XLIII is now the most viewed television program in U.S. history with a total audience of 151.6 million viewers, according to official national ratings data released today by Nielsen Media Research.

"It's always incredibly satisfying to amass large audiences, but this television record simply reaffirms the power of the Super Bowl and the National Football League," said Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. "Everyone associated with the NFL should feel a great sense of pride in this accomplishment and in providing a day of enjoyment to American families – especially those who are struggling in these difficult times."

MOST VIEWED TELEVISION PROGRAMS IN HISTORY (total viewers):
1. Super Bowl XLIII 151.6 million NBC 2009
2. Super Bowl XLII 148.3 million Fox 2008
3. Super Bowl XXVIII 144.4 million CBS 2004

The total audience of 151.6 million viewers tops the previous Super Bowl record audience of 148.3 million viewers by 3.3 million viewers (Super Bowl XLII, Giants-Patriots, Note: total audience measures viewership for all or part of a broadcast).

MOST-WATCHED SUPER BOWLS (average viewers):
1. Super Bowl XLIII 98.7 million NBC 2009
2. Super Bowl XLII 97.5 million Fox 2008
3. Super Bowl XXX 94.1 million NBC 1996
4. Super Bowl XLI 93.2 million CBS 2007
5. Super Bowl XXVII 91.0 million NBC 1993

While the season finale of the TV show M*A*S*H* still holds the average record of 106 million viewers, but their total was only in the 120 million range. Pretty amazing that a small market team like Arizona, held their own in both the game and the ratings.

There was no way that this year's Super Bowl ratings would surpass last year's, but in the end, they actually came pretty close. NBC is saying that the overnight number from Nielsen is a 42.1 and a 65 share. That's down only slightly from the 44.7/66 of last year's Super Bowl, and it matches the overnights from Super Bowls XLI and XLII. From NBC....

"Every year, America stands still on Super Sunday and these numbers confirm the power and consistency of the Super Bowl as the top property in all of television," said Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports and Olympics. "Many people doubted this match-up, but it's the Super Bowl not the match-up, that draws an enormous audience.

"We are in a great place to be in relation to last year's historic and unimaginable game when an undefeated powerhouse was upset by an underdog from the country's largest media market."

The total number of viewers isn't out yet, but it's looking like it will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 million or so. Very impressive, as Ebersol said, for a game that many thought wouldn't bring the goods.

Outside of the Inauguration, it's a pretty slow news day, which probably explains why I'm posting on the MLS. ESPN has decided to drop it's Thursday, Major League Soccer game of the week, and will be moving to a rotating set of days throughout the week. Via Sports Business Journal....

After two years of anemic ratings that started low and finished lower, ESPN executives decided to cancel the league’s regular Thursday night telecast on ESPN2 this season. In its place, ESPN2 will carry an MLS game of the week, which will air on four different nights during the season. The weekly matches will occur on Thursdays (10 times), Saturdays (eight times), Wednesdays (six times) and Fridays (three times).

“We didn’t see the kind of ratings climb we’d like to, so we’re trying something different,” said Scott Guglielmino, ESPN vice president of programming.

The decision to cancel the regular Thursday night game marks a stunning turnaround for a league that two years ago believed it was creating destination programming that would increase interest in MLS. But even the 2007 arrival of David Beckham couldn’t boost MLS ratings.

This is news is another sobering hit that alludes to Soccer never really being able to gain solid footing in the U.S. It's a shame too because of the popularity of the Sport throughout the rest of the World.

ESPN booting MLS from its Thursday slot (Sports Business Journal)

With the larger market teams not making, or already knocked out of the Playoffs, most people knew the ratings were going to be down from 2007, and the overnight numbers confirmed that this afternoon. So how much are the numbers down from the Championship games, and timeslots from last year? A good bit....

2008: NFC Championship, Giants at Packers (FOX, 6:30pm)- 31.7
2008: AFC Championship, Chargers at Patriots (CBS, 3pm)- 27.4
2009: NFC Championship, Eagles at Cardinals (FOX, 3pm)- 24.0 (AFC: -12.4%/NFC: -24.3%)

2008: AFC Championship, Chargers at Patriots (CBS, 3pm)- 27.4
2008: NFC Championship, Giants at Packers (FOX, 6:30pm)- 31.7
2009: AFC Championship, Ravens at Eagles (CBS, 6:30pm)- 23.8 (AFC: -13.1%/NFC: -24.9%)

Again, those are some tough matchups to go up against, but that drop is pretty significant. That said though, CBS still won the night with the AFC Championship game last night.

It's been a few weeks since the news broke that ESPN would be taking over the BCS in a few years, and FOX has finally decided to comment on how everything went down. In an interview with Broadcasting & Cable, chairman of entertainment at Fox Broadcasting Peter Liguori, had some strong words for leagues and tournaments that think moving to ESPN is a good move....

Q: What was your reaction to losing the BCS?

PL: I think it's something that the whole industry should be looking at. At some point, these leagues should be looking at what happens to their ratings when they go to ESPN. The fact that they're promoted on a sports channel that is dedicated to rabid sports fans is ultimately not the best thing, in my opinion, for the leagues. When you have a broadcaster promoting your sport, you're getting exposed to younger people, women. I think that's something that's good for your long-term health.

In a way, Liguori is right. Having a Championship game on broadcast television will always bring more ratings, but a cable network devoted to just Sports will certainly do the game more justice by having more knowledgeable analysts and announcers to do the game. It's a tough choice to make, but with the economy the way it is and money being the driving force, it's certainly an interesting angle to look at. I'm of the mindset that FOX had its chance and failed, but there's nothing wrong in debating the move, is there?

Peter Liguori's New Year Starts Now (Broadcasting & Cable)

On the surface, the matchups on Sunday seemed like they would carry the ratings for both Fox and CBS, but the numbers are out and that was definitely not the case. Every single game was down from 2007, with the highlight being an over twenty-one percent drop for the Cardinals-Panthers slot. Here are the numbers via Sports Business Daily....

Ravens-Titans (CBS): 17.0
2007 Seahawks-Packers (FOX): 18.5 (-8.1%)

Cardinals-Panthers (FOX): 15.8
2007 Jaguars-Patriots (CBS: 20.2 (-21.8%)

Eagles-Giants (FOX): 20.9
2007 Chargers-Colts (CBS): 21.2 (-1.4%)

Chargers-Steelers (CBS): 21.4
2007 Giants-Cowboys (FOX): 25.8 (-17.1%)

Obviously the blowout win for Arizona didn't help things, and the numbers were still not that bad overall, but this past weekend drop-off will be nothing compared to the Championship Games. A lot of people consider NFL ratings bullet-proof, but there hasn't been a set of Championships with the potential to be this bad in years. We shall see though.

I was waiting until I had all of the numbers in to put up this post, but after a strong Bowl Season in terms of ratings, ESPN says they're not looking to make any changes. In fact, ESPN college sports chief Burke Magnus said that it would be "inappropriate" to tell College Football what to do. Via the Chicago Tribune....

But even now that ESPN has partnered with the BCS, winning the broadcast rights to every top bowl game from 2011-2014, network officials say they won't try to push college football toward a playoff.

"We will not be shy about giving our opinions, if asked," ESPN college sports chief Burke Magnus said. "But I don't think it's appropriate for us to tell them what to do, just like they don't tell us what to do."

The "us" was represented Thursday at a Football Writers Association of America breakfast by Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford, who said he sees no compelling reason to change any aspect of the current five-bowl BCS format, even though President-elect Barack Obama has called for a playoff.

Barack Obama's opinions aside, I think ESPN has a wonderful opportunity to do something for the fans of Football. An overwhelming percentage of people want a Playoffs system in College Football, and the "Leader" actually has the leverage to provide it to them. If you ask me, I think it's time to start telling people what to do. If you look at the ratings below, you'll see that while ESPN made steady gains, FOX's results were pretty bad this year. ESPN can still keep their collection of games, and then capitalize where FOX left off.

Seems pretty obvious to me, but then again....what do I know? Here the ratings for your perusal....

ESPN BOWL GAMES:

EagleBank Bowl

2008- 2.2
2007- No Game

New Mexico

2008- 2.6
2007- 2.0

magicJack St. Petersburg

2008- 1.3
2007- No Game

Pioneer Las Vegas

2008- 2.5
2007- 2.1

R+L Carriers New Orleans

2008- 0.8
2007- 1.6

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia

2008- 3.2
2007- 1.7

Sheraton Hawaii

2008- 2.6
2007- 1.5

Motor City

2008- 2.5
2007- 2.3

Meineke Car Care

2008- 3.9
2007- 3.2

Champs Sports

2008- 4.5
2007- 3.2

Emerald

2008- 4.0
2007- 3.1

Independence

2008- 1.0
2007- 1.6

Papajohns.com

2008- 2.4
2007- 1.9

Valero Alamo

2008- 4.6
2007- 2.3

Roady's Humanitarian

2008- 2.4
2007- 0.7

Pacific Life Holiday

2008- 4.6
2007- 3.7

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces

2008- 1.7
2007- 1.7

Gaylord Hotels Music City

2008- 2.8
2007- 3.4

Chick-fil-A

2008- 3.9
2007- 4.4

Outback

2008- 3.1
2007- 2.9

Capital One

2008- 6.4
2007- 9.9

Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi

2008- 11.7
2007- 11.1

AutoZone Liberty

2008- 2.7
2007- 3.5

International

2008- 2.1
2007- 1.4

GMAC

2008- 2.2
2007- 1.0

BCS ON FOX:

FedEx Orange

2008- 5.4 (-27%)
2007- 7.4 (Sugar Bowl in same time slot)

Allstate Sugar

2008- 8.4 (+8%)
2007- 7.9

Tostitos Fiesta

2008- 10.4 (+35%)
2007- 7.7

I didn't doubt for a second that a good number of people would watch the game last night, but the numbers were actually much better than I expected. Thanks to a close game, and some high profile players, the BCS National Title Game on Fox pulled in a 17.0/27 for their overnight ratings. Via Sports Business Daily....

Thursday night's Florida-Oklahoma FedEx BCS National Championship Game earned a 17.0/27 overnight Nielsen rating on Fox, up 9.0% from a 15.6/23 for last year's LSU-Ohio State matchup, which aired on a Monday night. The 17.0/27 marks Fox' highest-rated primetime program this season and highest since last season's "American Idol" finale, which earned a 17.5/27. Fox for the game earned a 16.1/25 in primetime, tops among all nets. Oklahoma City topped all metered-markets with a 52.6/67, followed by Tulsa's 47.8/63. In Florida, Jacksonville delivered a 40.5/55, followed by a 32.5/49 in Tampa and a 30.7/45 in Orlando.

Your grand total of average viewers from the telecast comes out to a whopping 26.76 million, and while it easily beat last year's average of 23.1, the final total could approach the 2007 LSU-OSU total of over 27 million. Also, when the final rating is tabulated, this year's game should easily surpass both totals from the last two years, and should be in the top three of all games since the BCS was instituted in 1999.

Fox Earns 17.0 Overnight For BCS National Championship Game (Sports Business Daily)

At the beginning of the season, I thought it was a lock that CBS was going to take the NFL "TV Partners Cup" this season, but because of the Brady injury and a "fading Favre", FOX once again won the ratings battle for the year. It was a close race though. I've sifted through the numbers, via SBJ, and here's how they networks came out in the end....

The NFC's channel averaged a little over 17 Million viewers for the year, with NBC clocking in at 16.6, and CBS hitting exactly a 16.2. The interesting thing with the numbers though is that, when compared to the 2007 totals, the only network that did better was NBC. CBS was hit the hardest by being down 2.1, and while FOX was down slightly from last year, NBC actually gained 4.2% in viewers and 2% in the final average rating.

As far as Pregame Shows go, FOX won the overall award with CBS only trailing slightly, as both networks showed gains over 2007. ESPN's Countdowns were the only pregame shows that brought brought in losses (Monday: -4.8%, Sunday: -4.5%), and in its first year, NFL-N's "NFL GameDay Morning" averaged a rather paltry 270,000 viewers.

Other notable numbers:

- Cowboys played in six of the top games on FOX and CBS.
- Steelers played in five.
- ESPN averaged an 8.9 cable rating for its third season of Monday Night Football (up 3.5%).
- The NFL Network averaged a 6.2 cable rating (down 12.7%).
- "The OT" on FOX beat out "Football Night In America" on NBC by an average rating of 6.9 to 4.0.

The NFL's Wildcard Weekend saw some great games, and in turn, some pretty solid ratings. FOX's coverage of the Eagles-Vikings game on Sunday garnered the largest set of numbers with a 19.9 overnight Neilsen number (up 7% from last year's Titans-Chargers on CBS), and the Chargers victory over the Colts brought in an 18.3 for NBC (up 9.6% over the Jags-Steelers game on the same network).

The other two contests, Falcons-Cards and Ravens-Dolphins, didn't fair so well, but they still pulled in a 14.3 and 17.0 for NBC and CBS respectively. Only the Atlanta-Arizona game saw a significant drop (-7.1%) over last year's contest in the same time slot (Skins-Seahawks on NBC). While those tallies are certainly welcomed by the NFL, the amateur circuit of Bowl Games isn't fairing nearly as well. In fact, Bowl Game ratings are downright dreadful in some cases.

As far as BCS games go, only ABC's airing of the Rose Bowl (12.6) has gained over last year, but the 2008 "Grandaddy of Them All" clocked in as third worst game since the Rose Bowl joined in the BCS. The Sugar Bowl only received an 8.5, and the Orange Bowl had it's worst ratings ever with a pathetic 6.1, passing 2007's matchup between Wake Forest and Louisville that came in just under 7.0.

With all of these ratings coming in lower and each year, you have to think about how many people would have watched the Orange Bowl if it was in fact a Playoff Game, and not just a crappy BCS matchup. The answer is obviously more, but for some reason, College Football and the BCS still have the wool pulled over their eyes when it comes to this topic.

(Numbers via SBD)