NBC earned a 5.6 overnight Nielsen rating for the race segment of the Preakness Stakes from 6:00-6:45pm ET on Saturday, which saw Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another win the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown. That figure is down 11% from a 6.3 overnight for the race last year. Pre-race coverage from 4:30-5:00pm earned a 1.7 overnight, down from a 2.1 rating for the comparable period last year. The 5:00-6:00pm pre-race segment earned a 2.9 overnight, down from a 3.6 rating last year (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
HORSE FEATHERS: In Baltimore, David Zurawik noted NBC brought in 170 employees to cover the Preakness, and “from the looks of the TV package it presented, all of them earned their keep.” NBC's coverage began at 4:30pm ET and it "hardly ever sagged for more than a minute or two right up until the start of the race some two hours later.” NBC “showed how it is done at the highest levels of network talent and expertise,” as the coverage “was textbook in the use of features, interviews and story lines.” Zurawik wrote, “I loved the visual imagery that suffused the feature on Under Armour owner Kevin Plank and his efforts to revive Maryland horse racing at Sagamore Farm.” Zurawik was “pleasantly surprised” by the interview analyst Randy Moss did with Doug O'Neill, the controversial trainer of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another. The tendency in pre-event interviews “is to stay nice -- especially when your network has the costly broadcast rights to the event as NBC does with the Triple Crown.” Zurawik wrote, “Good for NBC Sports in that it didn't go in the tank on that interview” (
Baltimore SUN, 5/20). In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes while NBC “didn’t duck O’Neill’s ugly issues -- we even saw a full-screen graphic listing his steady inability to race by the rules -- NBC still seemed uneasy telling such an unflattering truth” (
N.Y. POST, 5/21). In Tampa, Tom Jones writes NBC's Preakness coverage, “as expected, was outstanding even though normal host Bob Costas was absent to attend his daughter's graduation from college.” The “highly capable Tom Hammond filled in admirably, and NBC again showed that, to borrow a phrase from another sport, it covers all the bases” (
TAMPA BAY TIMES, 5/21). Regarding a potential boost for horse racing now that I'll Have Another will vie for a Triple Crown at the June 9 Belmont Stakes, N.Y. DAILY NEWS' Bob Raissmann said, "Any horse that wins the first two legs is going to build interest"
(“Daily News Live,” SportsNet N.Y., 5/18).
