October Ratings Dip Without Yanks
Via Bob Wolfley:
Viewers of baseball on television, sometimes for good reason, have complained over the years about having to watch so many national telecasts involving the New York Yankees.
Pinstripes here, pinstripes there, pinstripes everywhere, has been known to grind on viewers who have managed somehow to lead productive lives outside New York and in a non-Yankees-centric manner.
But you could argue the absence of the Yankees from the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons is one big reason that the ratings for major-league baseball’s division series on TBS were down 26% compared to last year.
Another big reason was the Chicago Cubs’ failure to make it a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Cubs’ story, and hence their appeal to a national audience, is undeniable.
The absence of the Yankees not only eliminated the No. 1 television market in the country, but also the national audience the Yankees enjoy because of their tradition, success and exposure.
Last season, when the Yankees played the Cleveland Indians in a four-game division series, those four games were the highest-rated games on TBS.
It has been suggested the vice presidential debate on Oct. 2 was a reason for the decline in baseball playoff ratings this year. But if you exclude the two games affected, the average rating remains the same for TBS (2.8).
The drop-in viewers for the playoffs is not about the presence of Sarah Palin. It’s more about the absence of Derek Jeter and that uniform he wears.
Remember this the next time some yahoo tries to make the case that the Yankees are bad for baseball…
That’s pretty funny – the *absence* of the Yankees has reduced the post-season ratings, yet the *presence* of these same Yankees on YES managed to reduce their ratings by 10%.
That’s pretty funny – the *absence* of the Yankees has reduced the post-season ratings, yet the *presence* of these same Yankees on YES managed to reduce their ratings by 10%.
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You realize how the two are different, right?
Mike Kay always harps that the Yankee World Series games weren’t as highly rated as the most recent ones( with the exception of the Stros/Palehose WS in 2005). The Yankees bring some juice to the playoffs but sadly don’t have the pull of the Red Pox or the Unlovable Crappy and loathsome Cubsters and their happydick fans.
Once I was, that is a question of apples and oranges. I don’t know that YES rating went down 10 percent . Secondly, national ratings are a different kettle of fish. The Yanks not being in the playoffs takes juice away from the playoffs BUT they still are not the draw this writer makes them out to be. They were the Evil Empire not too long ago. Now there is a new one up in Beantown and they are (for the time being) a bigger draw. That goes with the territory, when a team wins and has two chamiponships in 4 years you have that juice. Sadly enough, the Yanks are becoming a lumbering, overpaid underdog! Their status is not what it was in the days before 2004………
The NYT sports business columnist reported it this week. YES ratings were down 10%. And yes, I know its apples and oranges, but its still amusing that a team that couldn’t get its own fans excited enough to watch in the same numbers as last year is now being blamed for declining numbers in the post-season.
Right now the biggest pull would have been the Cubsters. Forget about Red Sox/Cubs Fox would take the AAA Mudhens against the Cubs. ANYONE against them. That story is the most annoying of the curses,more than the Black Sox scandal or the curse of the Bambino. I was very happy the Palehose actually won one back in 2005 because I was sick and tired of the Cubbies whining all the time.
Look YES ratings being down 10 percent for the games is what from a 3.5 to 3.1? That is a damn good rating in the New York market BUT as I always intimate those million dollar seats and the TV ratings will bomb if the team is not competing. This is not Boston or Podunk Iowa, there are choices. That being said the Yanks still carry some juice as “America’s Team” but they haven’t won lately so who cares?