SKEDBALL: Weekend Sports Ratings Bowl

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The Daytona 500 on FOX Sunday crushed the competition, averaging a 10.0 household rating and 22 share from 1:30-4:45 in the 70% of the country with local Nielsen meters (in 56 of the largest TV markets).  Last year, the race aired on Monday in prime time due to weather problems on Sunday, earning only a 7.7 rating / 13 share.  And two years ago, the Daytona 500 averaged an 8.2 / 18.  Clearly, there was heightened interest in the race this year due to Danica Patrick’s earning the pole position (she ended up finishing 9th) and perhaps because of anticipation of another spectacular crash like the one on Saturday that injured over a dozen spectators.  (Only garden variety mishaps Sunday, however.)

ABC aired NBA at 1:00 pm Sunday (Lakers at Dallas), averaging a 2.7 rating / 6 share nationally.  In Los Angeles, the Lakers averaged a 7.6 / 20, beating the 6.4 / 16 for the Daytona 500.  In Dallas, however, NASCAR (8.1 / 20) thumped the Mavericks game (4.3 / 11).

NBC averaged a 1.9 / 4 for the final round of the WGC Accenture match play golf tournament from 2:00-6:15 (without Tiger Woods in contention), down from last year’s 2.5 / 5 final round.

CBS aired an NCAA basketball doubleheader Sunday: a horrible 0.5 / 1 for unranked-Cincinnati at #25 Notre Dame from 2:00-4:00, followed by a more respectable 1.9 / 4 for #4 Michigan State at #18 Ohio State from 4:00-6:30.

On Saturday, there wasn’t much to watch in the sports daypart on the networks.  The highest-rated network sports programs on Saturday was the third round of the WGC Accenture golf tournament on NBC (1.4 / 3), followed closely by college basketball on CBS (#11 Georgetown at #8 Syracuse), which averaged a 1.3 / 3.  Everything else on Saturday was a 1.0 or lower.