J
Joseph_Gallant
Guest
...and it is this: The NFL's post-season TV ratings, unique among the "big four" professional team sports, are relatively steady year after year regardless of the market size of participating teams.
NFL teams in the number one (New York Giants), three (Chicago Bears), five (New England Patriots) and eight (Washington Redskins) television markets are now out of the playoffs.
By contrast, teams in the number thirteen (Seattle Seahawks), eighteen (Denver Broncos), twenty-two (Pittsburgh Steelers), and twenty-seven (Carolina Panthers; Charlotte) markets are still alive for a Super Bowl berth.
If this had not been the NFL, there would be tremendous worries on Network Row for ratings for the rest of the postseason would have been way down with big-market teams having been eliminated.
I'm sure the NFL and ABC (which will televise Super Bowl XL) would have preferred New England being in the Super Bowl, for it might have become the highest-rated single-network television program ever (due to the fact that New England would have been going for an unprecedented three-peat, which might have drawn in a record audience).
Well, Pittsburgh was a powerful team in the 1970's (and occassionally since), and ABC could hype the Steelers as wanting to emulate the great teams of the past. Seattle would be a first-time Super Bowl entrant and could be hyped as a one-time "hard luck" franchise finally qualifying for the world's biggest annual sporting event. Denver could be promoted as "Could the post-(John)Elway Broncos win the big one??". Carolina could be hyped as the team who a few years ago came just short of winning a Super Bowl and now wants to break through and win a championship.
Had Major League Baseball, the NHL or the NBA been stuck with it's remaining four teams being in smaller-markets, this would have been a recipe for low ratings for the championship rounds. But CBS (for the AFC Championship), Fox (for the NFC Championship), and ABC (for Super Bowl XL, which will be the network's final NFL game after having covered the league for the past 36 seasons) should see the very strong ratings that the conference championship and Super Bowl games normally get. Super Bowl XL should still be the year's most watched television event.
NFL teams in the number one (New York Giants), three (Chicago Bears), five (New England Patriots) and eight (Washington Redskins) television markets are now out of the playoffs.
By contrast, teams in the number thirteen (Seattle Seahawks), eighteen (Denver Broncos), twenty-two (Pittsburgh Steelers), and twenty-seven (Carolina Panthers; Charlotte) markets are still alive for a Super Bowl berth.
If this had not been the NFL, there would be tremendous worries on Network Row for ratings for the rest of the postseason would have been way down with big-market teams having been eliminated.
I'm sure the NFL and ABC (which will televise Super Bowl XL) would have preferred New England being in the Super Bowl, for it might have become the highest-rated single-network television program ever (due to the fact that New England would have been going for an unprecedented three-peat, which might have drawn in a record audience).
Well, Pittsburgh was a powerful team in the 1970's (and occassionally since), and ABC could hype the Steelers as wanting to emulate the great teams of the past. Seattle would be a first-time Super Bowl entrant and could be hyped as a one-time "hard luck" franchise finally qualifying for the world's biggest annual sporting event. Denver could be promoted as "Could the post-(John)Elway Broncos win the big one??". Carolina could be hyped as the team who a few years ago came just short of winning a Super Bowl and now wants to break through and win a championship.
Had Major League Baseball, the NHL or the NBA been stuck with it's remaining four teams being in smaller-markets, this would have been a recipe for low ratings for the championship rounds. But CBS (for the AFC Championship), Fox (for the NFC Championship), and ABC (for Super Bowl XL, which will be the network's final NFL game after having covered the league for the past 36 seasons) should see the very strong ratings that the conference championship and Super Bowl games normally get. Super Bowl XL should still be the year's most watched television event.
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