NBC said its coverage of Game Seven of the '97 World
Series last night earned a 26.0/39 preliminary overnight
rating (THE DAILY). Thursday-night's Game Five earned a
17.2/30, tying for the second-lowest rated Game Five in
history (N.Y. POST, 10/25). Game Six on Saturday earned a
16.9 preliminary overnight rating, down 24% from last year's
Game Six, according to USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke. He adds
that NBC "still figures" to finish with the lowest rating in
World Series history (USA TODAY, 10/27). The HOLLYWOOD
REPORTER's Stephen Battaglio adds that Game Seven will need
to deliver around a 25 rating to prevent it from being the
lowest-rated World Series ever (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 10/26).
DAY GAMES: Acting Commissioner Bud Selig, on World
Series day games: "The objective is to put your games on
when most people can see them. We can deliver incredibly
low ratings (in the daytime). But what purpose does that
serve? The fact of the matter is, every time we put a day
game on, the ratings have been abysmal. Why put a game on
when most of the fans don't watch?" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS,
10/26). NBC's Bob Costas: "They can say, 'We know in raw
numbers, we'll get lower ratings and less money.' But it
will be written about and talked about, and it will give the
game more texture. Why not say, 'We're taking less money,
but at least we're trying something different -- because
what we're doing isn't working'?" (PHILA. INQUIRER, 10/26).
FINAL NOTE: In N.Y., Joel Sherman reviewed the Series
and wrote, "Never has the treatment of the print media been
more callous than this postseason" (N.Y. POST, 10/26).
