Versus earned a 1.6 U.S. rating and 2.76 million viewers for the Bruins' 8-1 win over the Canucks in Game Three of the NHL Stanley Cup Final Monday night, according to fast-national Nielsen data. Those figures are down 20% and 23%, respectively, from Blackhawks-Flyers Game Three last year, which aired on a Wednesday night. The Canucks-Bruins Game Three telecast peaked at 3.28 million viewers from 9:30-10:00pm ET. The telecast marks the most-viewed Stanley Cup Final game on cable involving a Canadian team since Rangers-Canucks Game Seven earned 5.4 million viewers in '94 (THE DAILY).
FEAR THE TURTLE ALUMNI? ESPN's Scott Van Pelt yesterday confirmed that he provided former Univ. of Maryland basketball player Jordan Williams "information from NBA talent evaluators, but denied that he attempted to directly influence Williams’s decision to enter the NBA draft." Van Pelt said, "I had nothing to do with any decision that he made. I didn’t inform him what to do. I didn’t tell him, ‘Here’s what I think.’ None of that." Earlier yesterday, Williams said Van Pelt was a "big factor in helping me make my decision" to enter the Draft. Van Pelt said that he "gave similar feedback from NFL talent evaluators to former Maryland football player Torrey Smith last winter" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 6/7).
WITH OR WITHOUT YOU: Horizon Media Senior VP & Dir of Research Brad Adgate said Tiger Woods withdrawing from next week's U.S. Open because of leg injuries is a "blow to the tournament." Adgate: "Tiger has always been able to bring in casual golf viewers, especially when he is contention. Every sports report when mentioning the results of a golf tourney will mention how Woods is doing regardless of his spot on the leader board." Webster Univ. sports business professor Patrick Rishe: "There may be more no-shows in corporate tents and some fans looking to dump their tickets on the secondary market because they only really care to see Tiger." However, Rishe notes, "Fortunately for NBC, the U.S. Open is generally pretty compelling theater, so ratings should be fine ... but certainly not near the heights it could be when Tiger is in the chase and at his best" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 6/8).
THREE'S COMPANY: The GUARDIAN's Owen Gibson reports the BBC will offer the first 3D coverage of Wimbledon when it airs the men's and women's finals in the format next month. The two matches "will become the first 3D TV broadcast to be available to the public without a subscription on the BBC's HD channel." The BBC said that "in addition to showing the men's and women's final on its HD channel, via all digital platforms that broadcast it, it would offer a 'small number' of free public screenings." The 3D coverage also will "be available in a limited number of cinemas" across the U.K. Danielle Nagler, head of BBC's 3D operation, said that the Wimbledon "experiment would be one of a number the corporation would conduct over the next two years across a variety of genres to gauge audience demand and reaction" (GUARDIAN, 6/8).
