SKEDBALL: Weekend Sports Ratings Bowl

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This past sports weekend was dominated by four Divisional playoff games.  The first game in the Saturday doubleheader, traditionally the weakest matchup, turned out to be one of the best games (an exciting contest finally settled in double overtime).

The Ravens and Broncos game Saturday at 4:30 (21.6 HH rating in the 56 large markets with Nielsen meters) was virtually identical to the comparable game last year (21.7 rating for New Orleans at San Francisco in the same time period last year).

The second game in the Saturday doubleheader this year (18.7 rating for Green Bay at San Francisco) was down from the comparable game last year (20.6 rating for Denver at New England).  The beginning of the GB-SF game actually had to compete against the final half hour of the BAL-DEN marathon game.

The early Sunday game between the Seahawks at Falcons (21.3 rating) was up a bit from the Sunday 1 pm game last year (20.6 rating for Houston at Baltimore).

Finally, the late afternoon Sunday game between the Texans and Patriots (23.8 rating) was down significantly from the 27.4 rating for Giants at Packers last year in the comparable time period.

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On balance this year’s Divisional weekend averaged 21.4 rating per game, down from an average 22.6 rating last year.

Local Market Ratings

Boston wins the fan-support award — over a 50 rating for their team’s game.  Milwaukee (the major market nearest Green Bay) came close, posting a 49.5 rating for the Packers loss to San Francisco.

At the other extreme, San Francisco was the least supportive market, “only” a 33.3 rating for their 49ers game.

SATURDAY SPORTS.  Not much on Saturday afternoon against playoff football — basically test patterns.