It is not often that a team from the #1 media market in the U.S. can be considered bad for ratings. But when one considers who the New York Giants defeated on their way to Super Bowl XLII, it would make sense for FOX to feel a sense of disappointment.
The Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers are arguably the two most well known NFL franchises. The Cowboys are ‘America’s team’, while the Packers have ‘America’s quarterback’. Both teams would have provided a stellar match-up against the undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Patriots/Cowboys had the potential to be one of the highest rated Super Bowls ever, while Patriots/Packers would have featured a team going for perfection versus Brett Favre going for one last ring.
Unfortunately for FOX, neither the Cowboys nor the Packers could overcome the New York Giants, who have advanced to their first Super Bowl since 2000. Super Bowl XLII will feature a rematch of a classic Week 17 game, when the Giants battle the undefeated New England Patriots.
Patriots/Giants was the second-highest rated regular season game last year, drawing a 19.1 on three different networks. The game was the most watched NFL game in over a decade. So why would the Giants’ appearance in the Super Bowl not be as much of a draw as an appearance by Dallas or Green Bay?
For one, the Giants are not a glamour team. Dallas had Tony Romo and Terrell Owens, the latter always controversial and the former cruising around with a Hollywood starlet. Green Bay had the aforementioned Brett Favre, who has become a sentimental favorite. The Giants have Eli Manning and not much else when it comes to star power, and Manning is not much of a charismatic mainstream star. Compared to his brother, who won the Super Bowl last year, Eli is the Clippers while Peyton Manning is the Lakers.
Even on the field, the Giants cannot compare to the two teams they dispatched. The Giants, despite proving themselves as the best team in the NFC, have an air of mediocrity around them — which can partially be blamed on the hypercritical New York media. The Super Bowl will neither be a clash of the titans, as it would have been had Dallas or Green Bay advanced, nor a David versus Goliath battle. The Giants are neither perceived as dominant or even as underdogs; there is no Colorado Rockies or Golden State Warriors-style following for New York. That ambiguity makes the Giants somewhat uninteresting.
While the Giants as a television draw have several major shortcomings, the biggest problem with the Super Bowl match-up could have less to do with team itself and more with where it is located. The Super Bowl will feature yet another Boston versus New York battle. And while the game should draw huge ratings and ample attention in the Northeast, the rest of the country may not be so enthralled with what basically becomes a regional match-up. There is a reason so many fans lash out at a perceived “East Coast bias”, and that reason is because such a bias exists; ESPN, located in Bristol, Connecticut, figures to give the Super Bowl even more attention that normal — if that is even possible.
A Patriots/Packers or Patriots/Cowboys match-up would have had appeal beyond the Northeast; the Cowboys and Packers have significant national appeal, something the Giants cannot easily boast — that is, unless one counts the myriad New York transplants across the country.
All of this is not to say the Super Bowl will be a ratings dud. Far from it; any game featuring the #1 and #7 media markets in the country figures to do very well — and the recent history the Patriots and Giants have should stoke interest. Still, FOX cannot help but wonder what could have been, as there is little doubt Patriots/Packers or Patriots/Cowboys could have put up truly amazing numbers.
