The following lists final national Nielsen ratings for
many of the major sports events on NBC, CBS, Fox and ABC in
'99, compared to event ratings in '98 (THE DAILY):
1999 1998
EVENT DATE NET RAT/SHR DATE NET RAT/SHR %+/-
Super Bowl 1/31 Fox 40.2/61 1/25 NBC 44.5/67 -10%
AFC Championship 1/17 CBS 26.6/48 1/11 NBC 25.0/54 + 6%
NFC Championship 1/17 Fox 25.7/54 1/11 Fox 26.2/47 - 2%
BCS Championship^ 1/5 ABC 17.5/28 1/4 ABC 17.2/26 + 2%
NCAA Men's B-Ball Final 3/29 CBS 17.2/27 3/30 CBS 17.8/28 - 3%
World Series^^ 10/27 NBC 16.0/26 10/21 Fox 14.1/24 +13%
BCS^^ 1/4 ABC 13.2/23 1/4 ABC 12.6/21 + 5%
MLB All-Star Game 7/13 Fox 12.0/22 7/7 NBC 13.3/25 -10%
Women's World Cup Finals 7/11 ABC 11.4/31 ----------
NBA Finals^^ 6/25 NBC 11.3/21 6/14 NBC 18.7/33 -40%
MLB: NLCS^^ 10/19 NBC 11.3/21 10/14 Fox 7.6/15 +49%
Daytona 500 2/14 CBS 9.6/25 2/15 CBS 8.6/23 +12%
MLB: ALCS^^ 10/18 Fox 9.2/16 10/13 NBC 9.4/18 - 2%
The Masters^^ 4/11 CBS 7.9/19 4/12 CBS 8.6/24 - 8%
NFL Pro-Bowl 2/7 ABC 7.9/13 2/1 ABC 7.9/14 0%
Kentucky Derby 5/1 ABC 6.3/19 5/2 ABC 6.1/18 + 3%
U.S. Open Men's Tennis 9/12 CBS 6.3/13 9/13 CBS 2.7/6 +133%
U.S. Open Women's Tennis 9/11 CBS 6.3/16 9/12 CBS 3.1/9 +103%
Belmont Stakes 6/5 ABC 6.0/17 6/6 ABC 5.9/18 + 2%
PGA: U.S. Open^^ 6/20 NBC 5.8/17 6/21 NBC 5.4/16 + 7%
PGA Championship^^ 8/15 CBS 5.6/16 8/16 CBS 5.0/14 +12%
NASCAR: TX/Primestar 500 3/28 CBS 5.4/14 4/5 CBS 5.4/14 0%
IRL: Indy 500 5/30 ABC 5.0/17 5/24 ABC 5.5/18 - 9%
Wimbledon-Women's Final~ 7/4 NBC 4.7/16 7/4 NBC 2.7/11 N/A
Wimbledon-Men's Final~ 7/4 NBC 4.7/16 7/5 NBC 3.3/12 N/A
British Open^^^ 7/18 ABC 4.8/14 7/19 ABC 5.0/14 - 4%
NASCAR: Brickyard 400 8/07 ABC 4.6/15 8/1 ABC 4.1/14 +12%
Ryder Cup~~ 9/26 NBC 4.6/14 9/28 NBC 3.7/12 +24%
The Preakness 5/15 ABC 3.4/10 5/16 ABC 3.6/11 - 6%
French Open-Men's Final 6/6 NBC 3.3/12 6/7 NBC 2.0/8 +65%
French Open-Women's Final 6/5 NBC 3.1/11 6/6 NBC 2.3/7 +35%
Tour de France-Final Stge 7/25 ABC 2.3/6 8/2 ABC 1.5/4 +53%
NHL All-Star Game 1/29 Fox 2.2/5 1/18 Fox 2.7/6 -19%
Breeders' Cup 11/6 NBC 1.9/5 11/7 NBC 2.2/6 -14%
Senior PGA: Senior Open^^ 7/11 NBC 1.9/5 7/26 NBC 3.1/9 -39%
Senior PGA: Champship^^ 4/18 NBC 1.7/5 4/19 NBC 1.9/5 -11%
WNBA Finals^^ 9/5 NBC 1.6/5 9/1 NBC 1.6/5 0%
Senior PGA: Players Ch.^^ 6/26 ABC 1.6/5 7/12 ABC 2.2/6 -27%
AFL: Arena Bowl 8/21 ABC 1.5/5 8/23 ABC 1.6/5 - 6%
LPGA: U.S. Open^^ 6/6 NBC 1.5/4 7/5 NBC 2.1/7 -29%
LPGA Championship^^ 6/27 CBS 1.2/3 5/17 CBS 1.3/4 - 8%
LPGA: Dinah Shore^^ 3/28 ABC 1.1/3 3/29 ABC 0.9/3 +22%
MLS Cup 11/21 ABC 0.7/2 10/25 ABC 1.0/2 -30%
The '99 NBA All-Star Game was canceled due to the
lockout....The '99 Stanley Cup had three games on ESPN,
which averaged a 3.09 rating (2.3 million HHs), and three
games on Fox, which averaged a 3.4/10. The '98 Stanley Cup
had a 2.6 rating (1.9 million HHs) for four games on ESPN.
NOTES: ^ = 99's BCS title game, the Sugar Bowl, is
compared to '98's BCS title game, the Fiesta Bowl....^^ =
rating is the broadcast network average for the event, with
the event's final day listed as the event date. FOR ALL
GOLF EVENTS, the rating is a two-day, 3rd and 4th round
average only....^^^ = British Open compares final round
rating only, as '99 third-round coverage was preempted due
to ABC's coverage of the plane crash of JFK Jr. on July
17....~ = Men's and women's '99 Wimbledon Finals were both
held on Sunday, July 4, due to a weather-delay. The rating
is an average of the total coverage that day. ~~ = '99's
Ryder Cup is a two-day average rating for the event,
compared to the two-day '97 Ryder Cup average.
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