After a season in which ratings were up across the board, the NFL heads into its postseason with both New York teams, the Dallas Cowboys, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chicago Bears all still alive. The playoffs, which would get high ratings if the teams were from Maine and Oregon, could get the highest ratings in decades.
To the best of my knowledge, NBC gets first pick on at least one of the four NFL Wildcard games. If that’s true, then the Peacock apparently has more faith in a Dallas-Seattle matchup than in a New York-Philly game, sacrificing two large markets for Terrell Owens, Bill Parcells, and the dysfunctional Cowboys. That Eagles/Giants game should get at least a 20 rating for FOX in the late afternoon Sunday timeslot. The Cowboys will definitely generate huge ratings, though passing up two major media markets like New York and Philadelphia seems like a dubious decision by NBC.
Of course, when one talks about huge ratings for the NFL, one is usually talking about NFC teams. The huge 17 rating FOX got for a Sunday afternoon game recently was for an NFC matchup between the Cowboys and Giants. NBC is still bragging about its Christmas Day performance, when Cowboys/Eagles drew 22 million viewers. CBS, broadcast partner of the AFC, is the network with the smallest ratings increase from last season. The network’s highest rating this season was for a game involving the Indianapolis Colts and the NFC Dallas Cowboys.
While the AFC is the conference with the most talent, it is also the conference with fewer major markets. The Jets (the Clippers and White Sox of New York), will play the Patriots in a game that is certain to score high ratings for CBS. However, Kansas City/Indianapolis should get average (for the NFL Playoffs) ratings, while San Diego and Baltimore won’t get the same kind of national attention that New Orleans and Chicago will get. The fact is, despite having more talent, the AFC will be largely overlooked — almost like baseball’s National League in 2004.
With major storylines in Dallas, New York, New Orleans, Chicago and Philadelphia, the NFC is the conference of soap operas, inspiration and drama. Drama always trumps talent ratings wise, especially when it involves large markets (just look at the NBA, where a Lakers sweep over the Nets in 2002 got higher ratings than a seven game series between the Spurs and Pistons in 2005). The only team in the NFC playoff picture that hasn’t captured national attention this year is the Seahawks, and they are the defending conference champions.
The Chargers do have LaDainian Tomlinson, and the Colts and Patriots have Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, respectively. And I’m not saying that the AFC Playoffs will bomb on television. But it’s very possible that the NFC playoffs could score substantially higher ratings than the AFC playoffs. The AFC will probably walk away with the Superbowl champions, but the NFC will walk away with the ratings crown.
