Tony Romo’s inexcusable field goal fumble last night not only cost the Dallas Cowboys their season, but also cost FOX a sure thing in the playoffs.
The NFL never gets poor ratings, but last year was a down year. The Seattle Seahawks run to the NFC title drove numbers down; last year’s NFC title game did score a relatively large 20.8 rating, but that was the lowest rating for any Conference Championship game since 2001 (when Giants/Vikings scored a 20.6). If the Seahawks manage to duplicate last year’s success, a year that looked to have the highest ratings in years might not do quite as well.
The Cowboys were a lock for strong ratings, especially against either New Orleans or Chicago next week. Dallas/New Orleans scored a 12.8 on NBC in the regular season, the third-highest Sunday Night Football rating of the year, and Dallas/Chicago (two iconic teams in two large markets) would have scored a massive rating. A prolonged run by the Cowboys, however unlikely, could have led to numbers the NFL hasn’t seen in decades; the last time the Cowboys made the NFC title game, the game scored a 33 rating with a 58 share, not too far from Superbowl numbers.
The NFL still has New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Chicago. Seattle is the only weak link, ratings wise. Right now, FOX has to be rooting for the New York Giants; if New York advances, they would play Chicago next Sunday in a game that likely get the highest ratings of the year so far.
No matter what happens, FOX will definitely have New York, New Orleans, Chicago or Philadelphia in the NFC Championship Game, which will result in a ratings increase from last year. The ratings won’t reach the levels that a Dallas/Philadelphia or Dallas/New York game would have, but the game will still beat all its competition.
