The Tagliabue Era: TV Viewership Grows Under Commissioner

No event, sports or otherwise, generates TV viewership comparable to the Super Bowl. The chart below lists Nielsen ratings for the NFL’s marquee event since Paul Tagliabue took over as Commissioner in ’89. The costs of 30-second Super Bowl ads, which have increased 270% over the past 17 years, are also listed.

SUPER BOWL	NET	COST PER 30-SEC SPOT	SUPER BOWL RATING	AVERAGE # OF HOUSEHOLDS
XXIII (1989)	NBC	$675,000	43.5	39,320,000
XXIV (1990)	CBS	$700,400	39.0	35,920,000
XXV (1991)	ABC	$800,000	41.9	39,010,000
XXVI (1992)	CBS	$850,000	40.3	37,120,000
XXVII (1993)	NBC	$850,000	45.1	41,990,000
XXVIII (1994)	NBC	$900,000	45.5	42,860,000
XXIX (1995)	ABC	$1,150,000	41.3	39,400,000
XXX (1996)	NBC	$1,085,000	46.0	44,145,000
XXXI (1997)	Fox	$1,200,000	43.3	42,000,000
XXXII (1998)	NBC	$1,291,100	44.5	43,630,000
XXXIII (1999)	Fox	$1,600,000	40.2	39,992,000
XXXIV (2000)	ABC	$2,100,000	43.3	43,618,000
XXXV (2001)	CBS	$2,200,000	40.4	41,270,000
XXXVI (2002)	Fox	$2,200,000	40.4	42,664,000
XXXVII (2003)	ABC	$2,200,000	40.7	43,433,000
XXXVIII (2004)	CBS	$2,302,200	41.4	44,908,000
XXXIX (2005)	Fox	$2,400,000	41.1	45,081,000
XL (2006)	ABC	$2,500,000	41.6	45,867,000

The next chart shows network and cable TV ratings for the NFL during each year of Tagliabue’s tenure. Regular-season network games aired on ABC, CBS and NBC from ’89-93; ABC, NBC and Fox from ’94-97; and ABC, CBS and Fox from ’98-‘05. Cable games aired on ESPN and TNT from ’90-97.

YEAR	NETWORK	CABLE (ESPN/TNT)
1989	13.7	10.2
1990	13.3	9.8/7.0
1991	13.1	8.4/6.4
1992	13.1	8.4/6.9
1993	13.1	8.2/7.6
1994	13.5	10.7/8.8
1995	12.9	9.0/8.1
1996	12.2	8.1/7.3
1997	11.5	7.6/7.3
1998	11.3	8.1
1999	11.4	8.2
2000	10.7	7.0
2001	10.1	6.3
2002	10.4	7.4
2003	10.2	7.7
2004	10.1	7.3
2005	10.1	7.1
% Change '89-'05	-26.3%	-30.4/2.8%