The Yankees' four-game sweep of the Braves generated a
16.0/26 Nielsen rating for NBC, up 13% over last year's
14.1/24 for the Yankees' sweep of the Padres, which was the
lowest-rated World Series ever, according to Richard
Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES. Despite the increase, "the
rating was the second-lowest for the World Series," behind
the 16.7 for the '97 Marlins-Indians series. Sandomir notes
that in '99, each succeeding game had a higher rating than
its predecessor, with Game Four earning a 17.8 (N.Y. TIMES,
10/29). DAILY VARIETY's Tom Bierbaum writes that MLB's
audience "skews a little older" than some other sports
events. Among adults 18-49, Wednesday's Game Four averaged
a 9.3/26, compared to the Super Bowl at 36.4/71, NCAA men's
basketball final at 11.0/29, NCAA football championship at
10.7/26 and the NBA Finals at 6.0/25 (DAILY VARIETY, 10/29).
NBC Sports Chair Dick Ebersol said that, despite the sweep,
the network made a profit of slightly more than $5M.
Ebersol: "This is the strongest sales climate sports has
ever had. We had a six-game [NLCS] that had two extra-
inning games, one of them 15 innings. With the extra breaks
from pitching changes, we had the equivalent of seven LCS
games. So we made a small profit" (USA TODAY, 10/29).
FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE WORLD SERIES: The CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE MONITOR's Douglas Looney writes that with "arguably
the most boring, desultory Series ever," the Jim Gray/Pete
Rose pregame interview "having nothing whatsoever to do with
the Yankees vs. the Braves became the calling card for this
year's fall nonclassic" (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, 10/29).
In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes that Gray's interview was the
"biggest story" of the week, the "story that distinguishes
this World Series from all others" (N.Y. POST, 10/29). In
Chicago, Jay Mariotti notes Gray's pregame apology before
Game Three: "Gray needn't have apologized for anything,
especially when a sponsor demanded it. But Gray buckled
under pressure from the big bosses, including NBC Sports
chief Dick Ebersol" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 10/29). In
Milwaukee, Bob Wolfey writes, "If MasterCard accounted for
1% of Ebersol's decision to have Gray issue an apology,
that's 1% too much" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 10/29). In
Phoenix, Dan Bickley, under the header, "Gray's Apology A
Sorry End To This Story," writes that MLB, Commissioner Bud
Selig, NBC and MasterCard "are all red-faced with
embarrassment" from the week's events (AZ REPUBLIC, 10/29).
....In Chicago, Ed Sherman writes that "nobody got beat up
worse than Gray this week. He went into the World Series as
a somewhat anonymous sideline reporter and departed as
Public Enemy, No. 1" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/29)....An ARIZONA
REPUBLIC editorial backs Gray and states, "he asked tough
questions under tough circumstances. That's his business.
He did his job well" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/29)....In L.A.,
Tom Hoffarth writes that NBC "shoving Gray into the postgame
celebration was just another grandstand act, making it
appear as if it was asserting itself to cover the Series the
way it wanted to" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 10/29)....In
Philadelphia, Rich Hofmann: "As Jim Gray twists and NBC
spins, there is a lesson somewhere. But what is it? More
specific, what exactly do you people want? Cotton candy?
'Inside Edition'? What?" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 10/29).
...In Baltimore, Milton Kent: "It would have been nice to
have seen more of Gray's colleagues, print and broadcast,
stand behind him. Their compulsion to cut and run on him
does not speak well for a profession in which singular
behavior is more the norm than the exception" (SUN, 10/29)
