Game 6 drew a 15.39 rating in the Tampa Bay market, twice the percentage of households in DallasGETTY IMAGES
The Lightning's Stanley Cup-clinching victory over the Stars on Monday was NBC’s "most viewed NHL game in the Tampa market" since Game 1 of the '15 Stanley Cup Final, a Blackhawks-Lightning matchup, according to Jay Cridlin of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. Game 6 "drew a 15.39 rating" in the Tampa Bay market -- by comparison "twice the percentage of households in Dallas." Game 5 "drew a 12.13 local rating, which at the time was the market’s best of the playoffs" (TAMPBA BAY TIMES, 9/30). However, in Dallas, Scott Bell reports Game 6 overall "wasn’t one of the 10 most-watched shows on television Monday night, falling behind reruns of network TV shows, various cable news shows and a midnight edition of SportsCenter." Monday’s game was the "least-watched Game 6 and least-watched clincher since at least the 2004-05 lockout" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 10/1).
WHERE'S THE CARE? In Toronto, Michael Traikos writes, "It should not have been all that surprising that more people in the U.S. preferred to watch ... Dancing with the Stars (7.04 million viewers) than Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final (2.95 million) Monday." Or that Chiefs-Ravens on "MNF" (14 million) also "dwarfed" the fixture. What was surprising, however, was that it "was also not watched by many Canadian fans." Rogers Sportsnet "reported that 1.081 million Canadians tuned in for Game 1 and that the audience dropped to just 841,000 for Game 2." Official numbers "were not released for the other four games." But sources indicated that the broadcaster "drew an average of 1.3 million viewers for Game 6 and never came close to eclipsing the 2 million mark in the entire playoffs." Traikos writes part of that "might have been due to the time of year." Not having any fans in the building also "sucked any atmosphere out of the TV product." There was no Canadian team in the "conference final or final," a series featuring "two Sun-belt teams." At the same time, the Raptors' average viewership "rose 10% from their championship run a year ago," and the Blue Jays were up 23% (TORONTO SUN, 10/1).
