Penguins Owner/C Mario Lemieux's return to the ice last Wednesday earned a 15.9 average rating on FSN Pittsburgh, translating into about 180,000 HHs in the area, and beating the 14.4 rating for ABC's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and the 10.8 for NBC's "Law & Order," according to Chuck Finder of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. The Pens' 5-0 win over the Maple Leafs not only beat "Millionaire" locally, but also "outdrew any other regular-season hockey broadcast in the history of the 22 Fox Sports Net affiliates." FSN's "Regional Sports Report" following the game earned a 3.8 local rating, the "highest mark in its five-month infancy" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 12/29). Also in Pittsburgh, Mike Dudurich noted that the Penguins' previous high local rating was a 10.0 against the Canucks on February 4, 1997. The highest regular-season telecast since Lemieux's retirement after the '96 season was a 7.4 for a March '99 game against the Devils (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 12/29).
NATIONAL APPEAL: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir noted that ESPN's broadcast of Wednesday's game "drew the most men (18 to 34) of any regular season hockey telecast in ESPN history." The game drew a 1.02 cable Nielsen rating, 85% better than ESPN's .55 NHL average this season. ESPN will telecast the first five games of Lemieux's comeback, and the "Super Mario Block" will continue to feature Lemieux wired for sound during the games. ESPN Senior VP/Programming Mark Quenzel said that ESPN's decision to broadcast the first five games of Lemieux's comeback "may be a model for next season," as ESPN is "contemplating scheduling some top teams for several consecutive games" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/30). BLOOMBERG NEWS' Scott Newman noted that ESPN's rating for the game was lower than some execs had expected, and that the rating "fell short" of the 1.5 rating for ESPN's highest-rated regular-season game in history — the Penguins-Flyers in '92 (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 1/2). In L.A., Tom Hoffarth credits ESPN's coverage of Lemieux's comeback, as the network "let the pictures and sounds carry" the telecast (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 12/29). ESPN2's broadcast of the Senators-Penguins on Saturday earned a .30, or 217,949 HHs. ESPN2 will continue its Lemieux coverage tonight by showing the Penguins-Capitals at 7:30pm ET (THE DAILY).
OH, CANADA: Meanwhile, in Toronto, Jim Hunt reported that 1.8 million viewers tuned into the CBC for Lemieux's return on Wednesday, "a bigger audience than for any game of last spring's Stanley Cup Final" (TORONTO SUN, 1/2).
SALES AT $3.2M: Penguins VP/Communications & Marketing Tom McMillan said that since it was reported Lemieux would return, the team "had sold 80,000 game tickets, including 600 partial season tickets, the sales of which are usually zero in December." In Pittsburgh, John O'Brien noted that with an average ticket price of $40, Lemieux's return equals $3.2M in new ticket revenue (PITTS. POST-GAZETTE, 12/29).
