Losing Peyton Manning and Tony Romo on the same day is never a good thing for the NFL television partners.
Like CBS earlier today, FOX was close to having a picture-perfect match-up for its Conference Championship game next Sunday. Two of the most storied franchises in the NFL, the Cowboys and Packers: America’s team versus America’s QB.
There is little doubt Cowboys/Packers would have been one of the highest rated NFC Championship games in recent memory. Even discounting the historical stature of the two franchises, Dallas and Green Bay finished #1 and #2 in the NFC this year, and met in a heavyweight match-up earlier this season. That match-up, which both teams entered having 10-1 records, drew 10.1 million viewers on NFL Network — a relatively small number that becomes incredibly impressive when one considers NFL Network is only available in 43 million households.
If a Cowboys/Packers regular season could draw numbers on par with the NBA Finals on a network with very limited reach, imagine what an NFC Championship Game between the teams could have drawn on FOX. As with the now hypothetical Colts/Patriots match-up in the AFC, the game could have drawn a rating approaching 30.
Certainly, FOX is not completely devastated; the Giants, who defeated Dallas earlier tonight, hail from the #1 media market in the country. The Packers are enough of a draw by themselves to keep the ratings above last year’s levels.
Still, FOX and CBS find themselves wondering what could have been, after two sure-fire ratings magnets fell apart.
