The NFL preseason kicked off last night with NBC drawing a 5.8 overnight for the Giants-Bills Pro Football HOF game in Canton. That is down 13% from a 6.7 overnight for Cowboys-Dolphins last year. Despite the drop, the game led NBC to a win in primetime last night. The Saints-Cardinals HOF game in ‘12 aired on NFL Network due to the London Games and there was no game in ’11 due to the lockout. NBC drew a 7.6 overnight rating in ’10 for the Cowboys-Bengals matchup and a 5.8 rating for Titans-Bills in ’09. Meanwhile, ESPN2 on Saturday night drew a 0.6 overnight for the HOF induction ceremony from 6:45-11:45pm ET, flat compared to last year's event (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor). In Buffalo, Alan Pergament notes the game drew a 26.5 local rating ion WGRZ- NBC, which is "in the range of some of the low-rated regular season games in years past." The Bills typically get "in the range of the high 20s and low 30s until they fall out of the playoff race." There are several reasons for the high rating in Buffalo, including the "attention given to Andre Reed's Hall of Fame induction" and a "halftime piece on Jim Kelly," who is battling cancer. WGRZ's hour-long pregame show "also did very well," as the 12.2 local rating it earned "would make it the highest-rated prime time show of the week other than the game" (BUFFALONEWS.com, 8/4).
