With the always high-profile Cowboys facing their former star Terrell Owens and his new teammate Chad Ochocinco, it is no surprise that the Hall of Fame Game had a significant boost from last year.
The Cowboys/Bengals NFL Hall of Fame Game drew a 7.6 overnight rating on NBC Sunday night, up 31% from Bills/Titans last year (5.8), up 41% from Colts/Washington in 2008 (5.4), and the highest overnight for the Hall of Fame Game since Broncos/Washington on ABC in 2004 (7.7).
This marks the highest overnight for any NFL preseason game since Titans/Cowboys on ABC in ’04 (8.2) — surpassing the previous six-year high of 7.3 for Bears/Broncos on NBC last year.
Overnight ratings peaked at an 8.5 from 8:30-9 PM, early in the telecast.
The game drew a 25.6 in Cincinnati and a 22.4 in Dallas. Outside of Texas and Ohio, New Orleans was the top neutral market (14.3).
The Hall of Fame Game still finished behind several recent summer sporting events, including the MLB All-Star Game (9.3) and the World Cup Final on ABC (9.9). However, the event topped the final round of golf’s U.S. Open (6.9) and the top game of the Stanley Cup Final (5.8).
