With two decades-long droughts on the line, a back-and-forth tension-filled Game 7 of the World Series delivered mammoth numbers on FOX.
Game 7 of the Cubs/Indians World Series earned a 25.2 overnight rating on FOX Wednesday night, up 66% from Giants/Royals in 2014 (15.2) and up 55% from Rangers/Cardinals on a Friday night in 2011 (16.3), the two most recent game sevens. Overnights peaked at a 31.1 from 11:15-11:30 PM ET, with the final quarter-hour (12:30-12:45 AM) scoring a 27.2.
The Cubs’ extra-inning, series-clinching victory, which ended the longest championship drought in the history of U.S. professional sports and clinched the year’s second 3-1 comeback in a championship series, delivered the highest overnight rating for any Major League Baseball game since Game 7 of the 2001 Yankees/Diamondbacks World Series (27.0). That game aired on a Sunday night with an NFL lead-in. The previous high over that span was a 22.2 for Game 7 of the 2004 Red Sox/Yankees American League Championship Series.
Excluding the NFL and the Olympics, the 25.2 is the highest for any sporting event since that 2001 Game 7. There are no college football, college basketball or NBA games on record — dating back to at least the late 1990s — with a higher number in the metered markets. For reference, the 2006 Texas/USC Rose Bowl had a 22.7 overnight and Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals had a 22.9.
For the year, the 25.2 is the fifth-highest for any television program, including the NFL — behind Super Bowl 50 (49.0), Patriots/Broncos AFC Championship Game (31.8), Cardinals/Panthers NFC Championship Game (26.8) and Steelers/Broncos in the Divisional Round (26.2). It topped every night of the Rio Summer Olympics and Game 7 of the NBA Finals (18.9).
Chicago delivered an 51.2 rating for Game 7, surpassing Game 7 of the 2003 Marlins/Cubs National League Championship Series as the highest on record for baseball in the market. In Cleveland, Game 7 had an 48.6 — down from a 59.4 for Marlins/Indians Game 7 in 1997 but ahead of a 46.3 for Cavaliers/Warriors Game 7 in this year’s NBA Finals. Kansas City was the top neutral market with a 36.0 and the nation’s top two markets, New York and Los Angeles, turned in a 23.5 and 22.6, respectively.
(Wed. numbers from Fox Sports, Michael Mulvihill/Twitter 11/3a, 11/3b, 11/3c, 11/3d)
