Quite the mixed opinions on how the college football championship telecasts from Monday (1/10) night fared in the ratings. The overall ratings for the entire ESPN group telecasts were above those of 2021, but below those of the previous four years.
Those lower numbers for this year are not surprising for two reasons. First, this came right after a busy Saturday and Sunday which allowed for viewing five entire NFL games, with the primary national games involving teams battling for positions in the post-season. In addition, this year's Alabama vs. Georgia game marked the third time this season these teams met, including the SEC Championship Game in December. Many casual fans were disappointed that a team which did not win its conference still had the opportunity to play for a championship. Most likely, the lower numbers were a combination of those two factors.
Each network did a solid job of covering the NFL games this past weekend. CBS did standout work by switching a couple of their early game audiences to more competitive games which also had playoff indications. In addition, kudos for sticking with regional coverage of the Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore overtime game instead of going to the start of their doubleheader game in markets where there were not local teams involved. Nice to see after all of the times CBS or Fox had to switch away from bonus coverage no matter what was going on in the early game.
ESPN was able to boast that its two Saturday telecasts, obviously helped by being aired on ABC, finished among its top five Monday Night Football telecasts.
It will be interesting to see how the ratings fare this coming week, which will be the first ever with six playoff games on the schedule, including one on Monday night.
Meanwhile, it could very well be that NBA ratings are, pun intended, on the rebound. Indications are that national telecast ratings are on the rise, with the season approaching the halfway point. It probably helps that New York and Chicago teams are much improved. ESPN hopes to pick up on this with a Knicks and Nets doubleheader on Wednesday (1/12). Adding the Nets at Chicago Bulls telecast as its second game forces Chicago to start a home game at 9:10 PM on a weeknight.
To make the point, consider what happened on Sunday night (1/9). While NBC had the tight Raiders vs. Chargers game with playoff implications on, NBA TV aired the game between Golden State and Cleveland. This was an attractive game given the notable improvement of both teams thus far this season. That telecast wound up as NBA TV's most watched telecast since 2016, and that game was when the Warriors won their 72nd game of that season. Got to wonder what viewership would have been had it not been opposed by the NFL game, and if more fans were made aware of that game being on. Sorry, but it's not like NBA TV telecasts garner a lot of advance publicity.
ESPN has announced its new broadcaster lineup for Sunday Night Baseball for the scheduled coming season. (Still in lockout at press time.) Naming Karl Ravich as play-by-play voice is somewhat disappointing (considering the caliber they have had over the past 30 years). However, going with Eduardo Perez as analyst and bumping Alex Rodriguez helps to make up for that. Rodriguez will join Michael Kay on some sidecasts during the season. With both announcers all having strong ties to New York, they might as well call it the "New York Simulcast", but they won't.
BUFFALO: Sorry to learn of the passing of Brian Blessing, who was a big part of Bills and Sabres broadcasts. Many of Blessings' 25 years in Buffalo were with WIVB, with his work being a part of the Bills' Super Bowl seasons in the 90's. Blessing had most recently been working in Las Vegas with a betting firm as well as a talk show about the Golden Knights.
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