“Field Of Dreams” game scores for Fox – and baseball

Featuring the White Sox and Yankees in Iowa was the highest-rated regular season game since 2005 If you build it, they will come. Well, they came all right – and proved to be a boon for Major League Baseball. The inaugural Field Of Dreams game – set in Dyersville, Iowa (located in the Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Dubuque market) in a newly-built ballfield […]

2017 Stanley Cup Final surges in ratings

Pittsburgh repeats but smaller market as opponent actually drew more viewers than last year’s matchup Who needs those Blackhawks anyway? The 2017 Stanley Cup Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators had something last year’s matchup did not: country music stars, lively crowds, and catfish being thrown on the ice. And that’s just in Nashville. The series between the […]

Canada-USA Gold Medal game scores in Chicago – and everywhere else

What’s the best part of the Winter Olympics? Seeing one of the best hockey tournaments in the world. And this Olympics proved no different. The Gold Medal Game in Men’s Hockey between the United States and Canada drew the largest audience for any hockey game in 30 years on this side of the border and the largest audience ever for […]

There’s something about playoff season

Ratings for both the NHL and the NBA playoffs (despite the lack of the Knicks and Bulls) are up from last year, according to Nielsen Media Research. Ratings for the NBA playoffs are up 20 percent on TNT with a more than 30 percent increase in key demos, and is up 47 percent on ESPN, with a 79 percent jump […]

NBC, NHL agree to one-year deal extension

And both ought to thank Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins (and the Outdoor Classic in Buffalo) for this, as well as other young upcoming stars in the league (like the Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.) While ratings are still low, they are up 33 percent in the key male 18-49 demo and up 11 percent in households. NBC […]