First, the results of last week’s predictions
| Sport | Game/Event | Net |
Prediction
|
Rating
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCAA BB (M) | Villanova/St. Mary’s | CBS |
3.5
|
4.0
|
| The 4.0 final rating for last Saturday’s Villanova/St. Mary’s NCAA Tournament game marks a 3% rise from last year’s 3.9 for Villanova/UCLA. | ||||
| NCAA BB (M) | Butler/Murray St. or Tennessee/Ohio | CBS |
4.8
|
4.8
|
| CBS drew a 4.8 final rating for the second game of its NCAA quadrupleheader last Saturday, down 4% from a 5.0 last year. | ||||
| NCAA BB (M) | Kansas/Northern Iowa, Baylor/Old Dominion or New Mexico/Washington | CBS |
6.4
|
6.5
|
| NCAA Tournament coverage featuring Northern Iowa’s win over Kansas drew a 6.5 final rating on CBS last Saturday, down 3% from coverage featuring North Carolina/LSU last year (6.7). | ||||
| NCAA BB (M) | Kansas St./BYU or Kentucky/Wake Forest | CBS |
6.9
|
6.1
|
| The nightcap of last Saturday’s NCAA Tournament coverage drew a 6.1 final rating on CBS, down 6% from last year (6.5). | ||||
| NCAA BB (M) | Syracuse/Gonzaga | CBS |
4.0
|
3.6
|
| Sunday’s Syracuse/Gonzaga game drew a 3.6 final rating on CBS, down 5% from last year’s comparable Syracuse/Arizona St. game (3.8). | ||||
| NCAA BB (M) | Ohio St./Ga. Tech, Maryland/Mich. St. or West Virginia/Missouri | CBS |
5.7
|
6.3
|
| The middle game of last Sunday’s NCAA Tournament tripleheader on CBS drew a 6.3 final rating, up 9% from last year’s comparable window (5.8). | ||||
| NCAA BB (M) | Pitt/Xavier, Purdue/Texas A&M or Duke/Cal | CBS |
7.5
|
6.8
|
| The 6.8 final rating for Sunday’s final NCAA Tournament telecast marks a 7% drop from last year (7.3). | ||||
| NASCAR | Food City 500 | FOX |
4.3
|
4.4
|
| Last Sunday’s NASCAR Food City 500 from Bristol drew a 4.4 final rating, down 2% from last year (4.5) and down 20% from ’08 (5.5). | ||||
| NBA | Spurs/Hawks | ESPN |
1.2
|
1.0
|
| Blazers/Suns |
1.1
|
1.0
|
||
| ESPN drew a 1.0 U.S. rating for both games of its NBA doubleheader last Sunday. By comparison, ABC drew a 1.2 for its NBA telecast on the comparable date last year. | ||||
| NHL | Rangers/Bruins | NBC |
0.8
|
0.5
|
| NBC could only manage a 0.5 rating for last Sunday’s Rangers/Bruins tilt, down 38% from last year, and tied as the lowest rated NHL telecast on NBC since the network resumed airing games in ’06. | ||||
| Golf (M) | Transitions Championship, Third Round | NBC |
1.0
|
1.0
|
| Transitions Championship, Final Round |
1.5
|
1.7
|
||
| The 1.7 final rating for last Sunday’s final round coverage of the Transitions Championship was even with last year. Meanwhile, the 1.0 for Saturday’s third round coverage was down 17%. | ||||
This week’s predictions:
| Sport | Game/Event | Date/Time | Net | Prediction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCAA BB (M) | Butler/Kansas St. | 4:30 PM Saturday | CBS | 5.0 |
| The first game of the Elite Eight does not feature particularly traditional college basketball programs. Look for the ratings to drop compared to last year’s Connecticut/Missouri game (5.4). | ||||
| NCAA BB (M) | West Virginia/Kentucky | 7 PM Saturday | CBS | 6.8 |
| The biggest star in college basketball, John Wall, should help attract a few more eyeballs to the second Elite Eight matchup on Saturday. Last year’s comparable Villanova/Pittsburgh game drew a 6.6. | ||||
| NCAA BB (M) | Tennessee/Michigan St. | 2:30 PM Sunday | CBS | 5.3 |
| Look for Michigan State’s matchup against Tennessee Sunday afternoon to finish virtually even compared to last year’s Michigan St./Louisville tilt (5.2). | ||||
| NCAA BB (M) | Baylor/Duke | 5 PM Sunday | CBS | 7.2 |
| Other than Kentucky, Duke is the biggest name remaining in the NCAA Tournament. Look for their matchup against Baylor to have a small bump in the ratings compared to North Carolina/Oklahoma last year (6.8). | ||||
| Golf (M) | Arnold Palmer Invitational, Third Round | 2:30 PM Saturday | NBC | 1.1 |
| Arnold Palmer Invitational, Final Round | 2:30 PM Sunday | 1.9 | ||
| With Tiger Woods absent, ratings should plunge for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Last year, third round coverage drew a 2.5, while final round coverage drew a hefty 4.4. | ||||
| NBA | Spurs/Celtics | 8 PM Sunday | ESPN | 1.3 |
| With ABC skipping NBA coverage for the second straight week, ESPN offers viewers a solid matchup between the Spurs and Celtics. Though the game will be hard pressed to match last year’s Mavericks/Cavaliers tilt on ABC (1.6), expect good numbers nonetheless. | ||||
| NASCAR | Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 | 1 PM Sunday | FOX | 4.7 |
| With ratings having dropped for all five NASCAR races this season, can Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 reverse the trend? Considering the fairly small declines for the last two races (4% for the Kobalt Tools 500 and 2% for the Food City 500) do not be surprised if NASCAR does indeed see a rare increase this week. Last year’s race drew a 4.6. | ||||
| IRL | Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg | 3:30 PM Sunday | ABC | 0.7 |
| The Indy Racing League returns to ABC this Sunday. Last year, ABC’s four IRL races (excluding the Indianapolis 500) averaged a 0.9 rating. With competition from NASCAR and the Elite Eight, look for even lower numbers for this Sunday’s race. | ||||
