Final Weekend Nielsen Ratings

The following lists final Nielsen ratings for weekend sports events ( THE DAILY ).

LONG TIME COMING: CBS’ “The NFL Today” last Sunday earned a 3.9/10 Nielsen rating, besting the 3.4/9 rating for “Fox NFL Sunday,” marking the first time CBS’ pregame show has out-rated Fox since CBS regained NFL TV rights in ’98. Through the first 14 weeks of the NFL season, “The NFL Today” is averaging a 2.5/7, while “Fox NFL Sunday” is averaging a 3.3/9, representing what CBS calls the smallest ratings margin between the two shows since ’98 ( CBS ). Fox Sports Exec Producer Scott Ackerman, on CBS’ pregame ratings last Sunday: “Congrats to them. Having a record of one win, 129 losses and two ties since 1998 is certainly a worthy accomplishment” ( L.A. TIMES, 12/16 ). NFL: WISN-ABC and ESPN earned a combined 43.4/60 for the Sunday-night simulcast of Lions-Packers, marking the highest-rated Packers game of the season. The game drew a total of 382,093 HHs and “more than two-thirds of the audience watched the game” on WISN ( MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 12/14 ). KHOU-CBS earned a 13.9/28 for Texans-Titans and a 14.7/25 for Chiefs-Cowboys in the later window, making Houston the only NFL market last Sunday “where the home team’s game was not the top-rated game of the day” ( HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 12/16 ). WTEV-CBS earned a 34.5/ (221,000 HHs) for Colts-Jaguars, the highest single mark for a Jaguars regular-season game since January 2, 2000, when the team beat the Bengals to reach the playoffs ( FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 12/16 ). Ratings for Seahawks games “have nearly doubled” since the beginning of the season, and are up 30% from the year-ago period. KCPQ-Fox GM Pam Pearson said that the station “has sold all its available air time to advertisers for the remaining [three] regular season Seahawks games” ( PUGET SOUND BUSINESS JOURNAL, 12/12 issue ). NBA: The Pistons are earning higher ratings in Detroit this season than the Red Wings “for the first time in memory.” The Pistons are averaging a 5.9 for ten games on FSN, while the Red Wings are averaging a 5.0 through 28 games on FSN and two broadcasts on WJBK-Fox ( DETROIT FREE PRESS, 12/16 ). FSN Detroit drew an 8.5/ (165,240 HHs) Wednesday for Kings-Pistons, the network’s highest-rated regular-season game ever. The Pistons’ 5.9 average on FSN is up 63.9% from a 3.6 in ‘04 ( FSN Detroit )....Sun Sports’ broadcast of Heat-Bulls Tuesday night, Pat Riley’s first game since returning to coach the Heat, drew a 4.8 in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, the highest-rated regular season Heat game on Sun Sports since ’98 ( Sun Sports )....Rogers Sportsnet Ontario drew 38,000 viewers for last Saturday’s Raptors-Bobcats, which may be the net’s “lowest Raptors audience ever.” The game aired opposite “Hockey Night In Canada” ( Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 12/13 ).