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Turner Receives Ratings Lift From NBA All-Star Game

Brandon Contes

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Hours after Jerry West proclaimed the NBA will surpass all sports, the league had its best all-star game rating since 2013, also beating its rating from the last two years the event went head to head with the Olympics.

“To see the way this game has changed and grown, and to see the strides that have been made for people who truly were able to contribute a different way is truly remarkable. I want to say this. I don’t like to say things that are controversial at all. But this game is gonna overtake all the other sports,” said West at the NBA Legends Brunch.

In a very busy sports weekend with the Daytona 500 and the Winter Olympics, Sunday night’s NBA All-Star Game, which aired on Turner-owned TNT and TBS, garnered a 4.3 U.S. household rating with 5.1 household impressions, both up 2% from 2017, but total viewership of 7.65 million was down from last year’s 7.75 million viewers.

The all-star event peaked with 8.2 million viewers, an increase 11% among the 18-34 demo, 10% for men 18-34 and 6% in adults 18-49. Viewership via Turner’s TV Everywhere service jumped 101% from their 2017 numbers, while its video views on Facebook and Twitter increased 37%.

The Daytona 500, which in the past easily achieved better ratings than the NBA All-Star Game, also averaged a 5.1 on Sunday. According to Sports Business Daily’s Austin Karp, it could be the lowest rated Daytona 500 in the sport’s history. Fox’s broadcast of NASCAR’s season opener experienced a ratings decline of nearly 23% from last year, and down more than 50% from the 11.3 rating NBC garnered when they had the Daytona 500 in 2006.

NBC’s Sunday night coverage of the Winter Olympics won the day with a combined 11.8 rating, averaging 15.7 million viewers. However, with ratings down an average 8% from the 2014 Winter Olympics, the trend continued as the second Sunday of the Sochi Games averaged 21.3 million viewers.

Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.

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Final ‘Good Morning Football’ Episode from New York Studio Airs Before Hiatus, Move to LA

After today, ‘Good Morning Football’ will take a brief hiatus, then move to LA. But outside of host Jamie Erdahl, who else will join the show on the West Coast?

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Good Morning Football

Today marks the last Good Morning Football episode to air from its New York studios on NFL Network. After today, the show will take a brief hiatus, then move across the country to Los Angeles. But which of the shows beloved cast members will move along with it?

We already know host Jamie Erdahl will be there once she gives birth to her child. The newest GMFB show member gave an emotional send-off to the show’s New York studios before announcing she was headed for maternity leave and would see everyone in LA.

Host Kyle Brandt delivered this message late last night, saying that viewers should tune in to he and his colleagues and that “he has a lot to say.”

Earlier this week, however, host Peter Schrager delivered his own goodbye message — one that may sound like a man who’s not ready to move his family across the country at a moment’s notice:

However, no hosts outside of Erdahl have given confirmation that they’re either staying or going.

The NFL’s move to take the show from New York to Los Angeles has been widely criticized by fans and media members alike. Bill Simmons wondered if the move wouldn’t spell just the end of GMFB but the NFL Network as a whole. It has some wondering if this is the end of football’s best show.

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ESPN Coverage of Men’s NIT Tournament Quarterfinals Up 33% vs. 2023

Viewership of the Men’s NIT Quarterfinals on ESPN were up 33 percent compared to last year and featured two games that averaged over one million viewers.

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Even the NIT is riding the recent hot streak of live sports viewership numbers. According to data provided by ESPN, the 2024 NIT Quarterfinals are up 33 percent compared to last year’s tournament. Perhaps more surprisingly, two NIT quarterfinal games topped one million viewers.

The network’s Georgia/Ohio State matchup averaged 1.03 million viewers, while the Cincinnati/Indiana State contest averaged 1.02 million viewers. These two games were the most-watched NIT games since 2017 — including title games. Both Georgia and Ohio State have rabid fanbases, while many thought Indiana State was unjustly left out of the March Madness tournament, which could be a reason why viewers tuned in.

Much of the focus this season has been on the women’s game, thanks to Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks, led by Dawn Staley. ESPN just had its most-watched women’s college basketball season since 2008-09 because of the increased interest in the women’s game. The men’s game, however, hasn’t been heralded as much this season for whatever reason, mostly because numbers seem to be holding steady compared to previous years. However, if the NIT is posting viewership wins, that should bode well for the NCAA Tournament’s incoming viewership totals.

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Report: NFL to Put Christmas Day Doubleheader Up For Bids

Bidding is expected to start at $50 million among the current NFL media partners but some think the games could sell for $75 million to $100 million apiece.

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The NFL will reportedly put its Christmas Day games up for auction, allowing its current media partners to bid for the games. Now, it’s up to CBS, FOX, ESPN, NBC, and Prime Video to pay up for rights to one of these two marquee games.

According to Front Office Sports Michael McCarthy, preference will be given to linear networks, so Prime Video and Peacock may sit this one out. Bidding is expected to start at $50 million but McCarthy and his sources expect that number to rise. John Kosner, the former ESPN executive, thinks the new Christmas Day games could sell for $75 million to $100 million apiece.

The NFL announced a Wednesday Christmas Day doubleheader during its annual league meetings. The league originally said it wouldn’t force games on Christmas Day if the holiday fell on an odd day of the week, though as the NFL continues to put games on days outside of Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and sometimes Saturdays, we’re running out of days that don’t feature NFL football.

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