Fox earned a 12.9/21 national rating for Tuesday's
historic Cubs-Cards game, marking the highest regular-season
MLB rating since an ABC "Monday Night Baseball" game drew a
13.4/24 in '82. An estimated 43.1 million viewers watched
all or part of the game. During the 9:00-9:30pm ET half-
hour time slot in which McGwire hit his 62nd HR, the game
had a 15.5/24 rating. Tuesday's game more than doubled the
6.4 average rating Fox drew for its Tuesday night lineup for
the past season and enabled Fox to easily win the night,
with CBS in second at a 8.4/14. Fox was blacked out in
Chicago, the U.S.' No. 3 market, where WGN drew a 20.6/33,
which was not included in Fox's rating (Fox). Though
Nielsen does not combine ratings, industry sources estimated
that the combined audiences of Fox, Fox Sports Midwest and
WGN drew a 16.4 (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 9/10). Calling McGwire
a "bona fide TV star," USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand writes
that Fox "might have gotten another ratings point" if the
Chicago market hadn't been blacked out (USA TODAY, 9/10).
CHA-CHING: DAILY VARIETY'S Bierbaum & Adalian report
that industry "insiders" say that Fox earned "between" $6-7M
in ad revenue for the game, "more than offsetting any
possible losses from make-goods to advertisers" who had
bought time on its regular lineup (DAILY VARIETY, 9/10).
KING OF THE HILL: Fox Sports President David Hill
called the decision to show Tuesday's game "an absolute no-
brainer." Hill, on Fox's on-air and behind-the-scenes
talent: "There were a hundred ways to screw things up
(Tuesday), but the way the boys handled it was perfect"
(DAILY VARIETY, 9/10). In N.Y., Bob Raissman writes that
there "was no shortage of folks at Fox who second-guessed"
Hill's decision. Hill: "With all this going on and you have
an opportunity to present to the public what is the sports
equivalent of man walking on the moon, you do it."
Raissman: "Hill made a decision that was in the best
interest of everyone" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/10). More Hill:
"Network television is about that shared community
involvement, whether it's the final episode of 'Seinfeld,'
whether it's the premiere of 'Ally McBeal' or whether it's
McGwire going for history" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 9/10).