Never mind the competition, the fact that it was only Week 1 or even the looming probability of labor strife, the NFL again drew record ratings for several games this past weekend.It was an especially good week for NBC Sports, which had the season-opening Vikings-Saints game last Thursday and a TV friendly Cowboys-Redskins game on Sunday night.
Specifically, the Vikings-Saints drew 27.5 million viewers -- making it the network's most-watched, regular-season game ever. On Sunday night, 25.3 million people watched the Cowboys-Redskins matchup. In addtion, ratings for the Sunday night game were up 24 percent from the first Sunday night game of last season (Bears-Packers).
Fox Sports enjoyed increased viewership as well. It's late Sunday afternoon game (Packers-Eagles) had a 14 percent higher rating than the game in that timeslot last year (Redskins-Giants).
Football itself does not guarantee ratings success, though. Several college football games drew ratings lower than matchups in similar timeslots last year. Those down included Penn State-Alabama on ESPN (down 36 percent from USC-Ohio State in 2009) and Michigan-Notre Dame on NBC (down 20 percent from when they met on the same weekend in 2009, then on ABC).
Clearly, and not surprisingly, the NFL remains the almost always successful TV sports king. The sport plays quickly and well on TV. It can be enjoyed when viewed casually and as background noise or when watched from the opening coin toss to the final second. Plus, it regularly provides known personalities, teams and traditions.