Nielsen Ratings for Glavine's 300th Win

The ratings for ESPN's coverage Sunday night of Tom Glavine's 300th victory have been released. Neil Best of Newsday is reporting the game was seen in 3% of the 94 million homes with ESPN. The total estimated audience is 2.89 million households and 3.83 million viewers. It was the biggest viewership for a Sunday night game since 1998, when the Braves faced Mark McGwire and the Cardinals.

Overnight Sports Nielsen TV Ratings: 07/23/2007 - 07/29/2007

Overnight Nielsen ratings for selected sporting events. One rating point equals 1% of the USA's 77 million overnight TV homes in Nielsen Media Research's 56 selected major markets. Cable rating converted to broadcast equivalent.

1. 4.1 ESPN SUN NASCAR Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
2. 2.2/6 FOX SAT MLB Regional action
3. 1.7/4 NBC SUN PGA Tour Canadian Open, Final round
4. 1.1 ABC SUN Senior British Open Final round
5. 1.1/3 NBC SAT PGA Tour Canadian Open, Third round
6. 0.9 ABC SAT NTRA Breeders' Cup Challenge
7. 0.9/2 CBS SUN Tour de France
8. 0.9 ABC SUN AFL ArenaBowl XXI
9. 0.8/2 CBS SUN World Series of Video Games
10. 0.8/2 NBC SAT Tennis Indianapolis Tennis Championships, Semifinal
11. 0.7 ABC SAT Senior British Open Third round
12. 0.6/1 NBC SUN Tennis Indianapolis Tennis Championships, Final
13. 0.5/1 NBC SUN Championship Off Road Racing
    

Overnight Ratings for ArenaBowl XXI

The overnight ratings for ArenaBowl XXI, broadcast in HD on ABC Sunday afternoon, are in. The game, featuring the San Jose Sabercats versus the Columbus Destroyers, earned a .9 overnight rating. To put that in perspective, the World Series of Video Games on CBS Sunday afternoon, earned a 0.8.

AFL Nielsen TV Ratings on ESPN

from Neil Best of Newsday.

It's been five months since ESPN detonated its new Arena Football League deal with hype that included an ESPN Zone bash in Times Square attended by everyone from Jon Bon Jovi to John Elway.

With the Arena Bowl scheduled for Sunday on ABC, how has it worked out so far? The ratings suggest not so great.

The season-opening regional coverage on ABC drew 1.0 percent of all U.S. households, but 16 regular-season games on ESPN2 attracted an NHL-like 0.2 percent of the 94 million homes that have ESPN. (The playoffs have performed somewhat better.)

That is far behind the 0.8 percent of all U.S. homes the AFL averaged on NBC in its last season in '06, which itself was that network's lowest figure to date.

Leah LaPlaca, a VP for programming, said the ratings "are about what we expected them to be for this first season" and added ESPN - which owns 10 percent of the AFL - sees vast growth potential.

ESPN had better hope so.

David Beckham’s Debut – Most-viewed MLS Telecast on ESPN and ESPN2

The final Nielsen ratings are in for David Beckham's MLS debut on ESPN. The game, broadcast on Saturday July 21 at 9 p.m. ET, was seen in an average of 947,000 television homes by almost 1.5 million viewers. According to Nielsen Media Research, the game was the most-viewed Major League Soccer telecast ever on ESPN or ESPN2. It was also the most-viewed and highest-rated program of the night on ad-supported cable networks among Men 18-49 and 25-54.

According to an ESPN press release:

The match beat the previous most-viewed telecast – DC United vs. San Jose Clash on April, 4, 1996 – seen in 681,000 homes (1.092 million, P2+), based on a 1.0 rating. The DC United vs. San Jose Clash was the first match in the League’s 12-year history.

David Beckham’s MLS debut also beat the most-viewed U.S. Soccer National Team match (excluding FIFA World Cup tournament) on ESPN or ESPN2. Previously, the most-viewed U.S. National Team telecast was seen in 680,000 homes (915,000, P2+) and 0.9 rating for the Oct. 3, 1997, World Cup qualifying match between Jamaica and the U.S. on ESPN.

Overnight Sports Nielsen TV Ratings: 07/16/2007 - 07/22/2007

Overnight Nielsen ratings for selected sporting events. One rating point equals 1% of the USA's 77 million overnight TV homes in Nielsen Media Research's 56 selected major markets. Cable rating converted to broadcast equivalent.

1. 4.1/12 ABC SUN British Open Final round
2. 2.7/8 ABC SAT British Open Third round
3. 2.5/6 FOX SAT MLB Regional action
4. 1.9/5 ABC SUN IRL Honda 200
5. 1.2 ESPN SAT MLS David Beckham Debut
6. 1.1/3 ABC SUN British Open Highlights
7. 1.0/3 ABC SAT British Open Highlights
8. 0.9/2 NBC SAT AVP Bud Light Long Beach Open Women's Final
9. 0.9 NBC SUN AVP Bud Light Long Beach Open Men's Final
10. 0.8/2 NBC SUN AST Dew Tour Right Guard Open
11. 0.8/2 FOX SUN MotoGP Red Bull Grand Prix
12. 0.8/2 CBS SAT NTRA Grand Slam of Grass Virginia Derby
13. 0.7/2 CBS SAT LPGA Tour HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship Third Round
14. 0.7/2 CBS SUN LPGA Tour HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship Final Round
15. 0.6/2 CBS SUN Tour de France Highlights
16. 0.6/2 NBC SAT AST Dew Tour Right Guard Open
17. 0.5/1 CBS SUN American Le Mans Series Acura Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio
    

Despite all of the hype surrounding David Beckham's MLS debut on ESPN, it's interesting to note that it was not the highest rated sporting event of the week. It's not surprising that it was beat by the British Open. However it was also surpassed in the ratings by both a regular season MLB game on FOX, and the IRL Honda 200 on ABC. Yes, those two events were both shown on broadcast networks, rather than cable TV. But the MLS game was heavily hyped, and shown in prime time on the popular ESPN.

Beckham's Overnight Nielsen Ratings on ESPN

David Beckham's MLS debut for the Los Angeles Galaxy earned a 1.2 overnight Nielsen rating on ESPN. The game was broadcast live on Saturday night, July 21. Beckham's first game was the highest rated MLS telecast ever on ESPN.

Overnight Sports Nielsen TV Ratings: 07/09/2007 - 07/15/2007

Overnight Nielsen ratings for selected sporting events. One rating point equals 1% of the USA's 77 million overnight TV homes in Nielsen Media Research's 56 selected major markets. Cable rating converted to broadcast equivalent.

1. 2.3/6 FOX SAT MLB Baseball
2. 1.7/4 ABC SAT NASCAR Busch USG Durock 300
3. 1.3/3 CBS SUN PGA Tour John Deere Classic
4. 1.0/3 CBS SAT PGA Tour John Deere Classic
5. 1.0/2 NBC SUN Golf American Century
6. 0.9/2 NBC SUN Hy Vee ITU World Cup
7. 0.8/2 ABC SAT NASCAR Countdown
8. 0.8/2 ABC SUN WNBA All Star Game
9. 0.7/2 CBS SUN Tour de France Highlights
10. 0.7/2 CBS SUN Grand Prix of Germany
11. 0.7/2 NBC SAT Golf American Century
12. 0.6/2 CBS SAT SPT SP
13. 0.6/1 ABC SUN British Open Preview
14. 0.5/1 NBC SAT SPT SP 7/14

Overnight Sports Nielsen TV Ratings: 07/02/2007 - 07/08/2007

1. 3.2/9 NBC SUN Wimbledon final on NBC, Federer/Nadal
   
2. 2.9/7 CBS SUN PGA AT&T National Final Round
   
3. 2.8/8 NBC SAT Wimbledon final, V. Williams/Bartoli
   
4. 2.8/7 FOX SAT MLB Angels/Yankees
   
5. 2.0/5 CBA SAT PGA Tour AT&T National Third Round
   
6. 1.2/3 NBC SUN U.S. Senior Open Final Round
   
7. 1.1/3 NBC SAT U.S. Senior Open Third Round
   
8. 1.0/1 ABC SUN IRL Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix
   
9. 0.9/2 FOX SUN F1 Santander British Grand Prix
   
10. 0.6/2 CBS SUN American Le Mans Series, Northeast Grand Prix
    

Overnight Nielsen ratings for selected sporting events. One rating point equals 1% of the USA's 77 million overnight TV homes in Nielsen Media Research's 56 selected major markets. Cable rating converted to broadcast equivalent.

Cablevision sells regional sports holdings to Comcast

from Daniel Wagner at Newsday

Cablevision has executed a $581-million deal that will give Comcast Corp. full ownership of Cablevision's remaining regional sports holdings outside of the New York area, the company announced Tuesday.

Under the agreement, Rainbow Media Holdings Llc, a subsidiary of Bethpage-based Cablevision Systems Corp., will transfer to Comcast a 60-percent stake in the corporate parent of the FSN Bay Area regional sports channel and a 50-percent interest in the owner of the FSN New England channel.

read more ...

Comcast has just purchased an ownership stake in the cable stations that broadcast the Boston Celtics, San Francisco Giants, Oakland A's, San Jose Sharks, and Golden State Warriors. One benefit to Comcast is that the stations provide excellent marketing opportunities, as cable companies face increasing competition from telephone and satellite providers. However, another potential benefit may be that these stations can provide Comcast with both content and on-air talent for their Versus cable sports network. Judging from Versus' Nielsen ratings, it can use all the help it can get.

Is UFC a Monopoly?

from Lotfi Sariahmed of 411mania.com

With UFC 73 just a few days away, I've noticed a lot of talk regarding one particular issue that has a lot of MMA fans shouting from their rooftops. Now mind you for MMA fans, myself included, that usually doesn't take much. But in this case there's an interesting debate. There's no doubt that UFC 73 is a loaded fight card with even a few fights on the prelims that fans want to see. The next few UFC PPV cards look promising as well with fights like Georges St. Pierre v. Josh Koscheck, Quinton Jackson v. Dan Henderson, a long awaited welterweight title fight and the debut of Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. But despite all the great matches coming up, there's one thing about these cards that have some MMA fans worried. They're all taking place in the UFC.

With at least 75% of the best fighters in every weight class, (and that's a low number) the UFC has a virtual monopoly on talent. So where does that leave us when it comes to the issue of competitive balance in MMA?

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Despite the general decline in sports tv ratings, including the recent NHL and NBA finals, there is still one sport that continues to gain in popularity. No, not NASCAR, which has also suffered ratings decline. Its MMA (mixed martial arts) leagues such as the UFC and WEC. The UFC's Ultimate Fighter 5 finale recently earned a 2.0 rating for Spike TV.

What do the UFC, WEC and PRIDE all have in common? They are all owned by the same company. Recently, the UFC bought out both PRIDE and WEC, effectively preventing rival leagues from broadcasting its fights on Versus. Is this consolodation of talent good for the sport? While it may be good for fans, it can't be good news for the fighters, who now have less options than ever.

Free agency off to much-needed (and frenzied) start

from Wes Goldstein at sportsline.com

It's about time the NHL had something that lived up to its hype.

Too bad it took until July. But after a postseason that was generally a competitive dud and the failure of the anticipated major trades at the draft, a league desperate to remind people of its existence could have done worse than the noise created from the first day of free agency

Especially since the biggest splash was made by the team in what is arguably the NHL's most important market. That would be the New York Rangers, who opened their wallets and signed the two most coveted free agents in centers Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, instantly legitimizing themselves as Stanley Cup contenders next season and maybe even earning a few headlines at home during prime time for the Yankees and Mets.

read more...

Who was the real winner of the first day of NHL free agency? The Rangers, who signed both Scott Gomez and Chris Drury? The Flyers who picked up Daniel Briere? How about the Red Wings who signed Brian Rafalski away from the Devils? Wrong. The real winner was the NHL, which, after a frenzy of free agent signings, saw their largest market teams grab all the best players. After three straight years of seeing six small market teams reaching the NHL finals, resulting in dismal tv ratings, the NHL needs its largest market teams to start winning again. This is a good start.

Stern works his magic once again – inside the NBA gigantic TV deal

from Howard Bloom at SportsBusinessNews

With the final piece of the National Basketball Association season to be put in place tonight with the league’s annual player draft, NBA commissioner David Stern as he has done since he became NBA commissioner in 1984 delivered a new rights agreements again raising the revenues of the NBA. The key to the agreements which signify a significant increase in revenues for the NBA – Stern selling both ESPN/ABC and Turner on the big picture, where the industry is going and how the NBA and their media partners are going to a part of that move forward.

According to Mediaweek: the NBA has agreed to a new eight-year, $7.4 billion television rights agreement with ESPN/ABC and Turner Broadcasting System, with the amount of television coverage consistent with the current agreement, but giving all the TV rightsholders new, expansive digital rights.

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This proves that David Stern is a genuis at negotiations. He managed to get the NBA owners almost a billion dollars a year for seven years, despite the fact that the NBA on ABC experienced a 31-percent drop in ratings and has lost 1 million viewers since 2002. Ratings drop 31 percent; tv revenue increases 22 percent. Using this ratio, and considering the drop in NHL ratings, Gary Bettman should be able to get the NHL owners 10 billion dollars per year in his next network deal.