State of the Networks II: FOX

The network is armed with some of the most recognizable properties in sports — the NFL, the World Series and the Daytona 500. For a brief period, their line-up also included the Bowl Championship Series, which has since migrated to ESPN. Leading the way for FOX is — unsurprisingly — the NFL, which typically draws its biggest audiences on the network.

Even though FOX was not the highest rated NFL broadcaster during the 2009-10 regular season (that distinction goes to NBC) and even though CBS aired Super Bowl XLIV (the most-viewed television program in U.S. history), it can be argued that FOX is the top dog among all NFL broadcasters.

During the regular season, seven of the nine most-viewed telecasts aired on FOX, including six of the top seven. During the postseason, FOX aired the most-viewed non-Super Bowl television program since 1998 — the Vikings/Saints NFC Championship Game, which drew 57.933 million viewers. The regular season (11.4, 19.097 mil) was the highest rated on FOX since ’95 and the most-viewed ever, while the postseason (22.4, 40.2 mil) was the highest rated since ’97 and the most-viewed ever.

Compared to the NFL, everything else looks pedestrian. Still, the 2009 World Series (11.7, 19.4 mil) was a success for FOX, ranking as the highest rated and most-viewed since 2004. The Yankees/Phillies series had the single largest increase in ratings in the history of the World Series.

It has not been all good news for FOX. The Daytona 500 drew a mere 7.7 rating and 13.294 million viewers, the lowest rated edition of the race since ’91 and the least viewed since ’00. FOX averaged a 4.8 rating and 7.897 million viewers for NASCAR in 2010, a record low for the network.

Meanwhile, regular season Major League Baseball averaged a record low 1.8 rating in 2009, and ratings in 2010 have not been much better. Moreover, despite the strong numbers for the ’09 World Series, the fact that FOX is less than two years removed from a record low for the event (8.4, 13.635 mil for Phillies/Rays in ’08) cannot be a comforting thought.

Like CBS, FOX has a fairly consistent line-up. 2010 is the ninth straight year the network has had the rights to the NFL, Major League Baseball and NASCAR. However, FOX recently lost one of its newer acquisitions — the Bowl Championship Series.

2010 was the last year the BCS aired on FOX, and chances are most fans will not miss the network’s coverage. During its four-year run with the BCS, FOX aired zero regular season college football games and never really seemed like the home of the sport’s biggest event.

With the BCS gone, it does not appear that FOX will stand pat with its current, albeit long-time line-up. FOX Sports chairman David Hill recently said the network would make a “strong bid” for the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games. In March, then-FOX Sports President Ed Goren confirmed that the network would “[talk] to the IOC” about Olympic TV rights, but then noted that “the economics become a problem” when discussing the recently-completed Winter Olympics. Goren: “What is the appropriate price? It doesn’t seem to be the same price that NBC paid.”

Also in March, Hill also expressed some interest in the NBA and PGA Tour, when asked what sports FOX would like to obtain the rights to that it did not currently have. On a much smaller scale, the network experimented with airing soccer’s UEFA Champions League Final in May, drawing a 1.0 rating.