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The NFL just finished up week one of the 2009 season, and dominated the TV ratings in every single way. They dominated the ratings in all thirty NFL TV markets, and now fans, TV execs, and the NFL itself must work to not derail this kind of success with labor strife. This is the NFL and the show must go on.
Just how big was the TV audience for week one of the NFL, well week one of the 2009 season offered the three largest TV audiences for all sporting events since Super Bowl 43. The Fox Sunday National Games, which had most of its viewers during the New York Giants/ Washington Redskins game, and 25.1 million viewers. That makes it the most watched NFL week one game ever.
NBC’s Sunday night match up of The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers had 21.1 million viewers. NBC also scored big with its traditional Thursday night kickoff game that scored 20.9 million viewers. That makes their prime time NFL kickoff weekend the largest since the league adopted this schedule in 2002.
ESPN also scored big with its big Monday Night Football Double Header kickoff. 14 million viewers watched the Buffalo Bills nearly beat the New England Patriots, and 11.9 million viewers saw the Oakland Raiders get robbed of a win against the San Diego Chargers.
Even the Detroit Lions suffering a 0-18 losing streak, and going down big to the New Orleans Saints was able to score an 18.7 rating in the Detroit Market, easily winning the day for Fox.
Every regional game aired this weekend dominated its own NFL market. In fact the lowest rating the regional games got was an 11.6 for the Tennessee Titans versus the Pittsburgh Steelers in Boston. That number may be explained away by the fact that the Boston Red Sox were also on TV in Boston that night losing to the Tampa Bay Rays by one run. The Tennessee rating for the same game was 40.1.
These numbers seem to show that more people are willing to stay home, than spend top dollar on the NFL live experience. Many will blame the bad economy on this, but they be missing the boat a bit. The home experience with flat screen TV, DVR’s, and HDTV is such a better experience than sitting in a crowded section next to some drunk loud mouth jerk. With a DVR or Tivo many NFL fans are watching multiple games either live or recorded later. For instance I watched more than 8 of the NFL games in week one.
For my money I enjoy the NFL better in my office, on my HDTV, where I can smoke my cigar, and be a NFL fan in my own way. I have spent so much money on my, A/V equipment at home that it makes little sense to go to a live game. These numbers seem to indicate, I am not the only one who thinks so.
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