The FOX-televised Chicago Bears/New England Patriots tilt on Sunday was the most watched non-Olympic or Superbowl sporting event of the year. 24.1 million viewers tuned into the late afternoon regular season game, approximately 8 million higher than the audience that watched Game 2 of the World Series and almost 10 million higher than watched Game 6 of the NBA Finals (the most viewed games of both events). The game also had almost 3 million more viewers than the OSU/Michigan game on ABC on November 18.
Football is reaching critical mass ratings wise. With college football breaking ratings records on ESPN and reaching highs that haven’t been seen in decades on ABC and even the NFL Network scoring a relatively high 4.2 million viewers in its inaugural telecast, it looks like the NFL has (if it hadn’t already) cemented itself as America’s pastime.
