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Ratings Were Down 12% For The NFL Season Opener

“The game peaked between 9:15-9:30 PM ET when 22 million viewers tuned in.”

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Blame it on the pandemic, social issues, an overcrowding of sports on television, a matchup which never felt close or something else, but the NFL’s season opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans failed to deliver eyeballs similar to last year’s performance.

Despite having the defending Super Bowl Champions involved in a game which featured two of the top QB’s in the NFL, Patrick Mahomes and DeShaun Watson, ratings for the opening night game on NBC were down 12.3% from last year’s rivalry game between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. Altogether the game produced 19.3 million viewers. That was only slightly better than the 2018 season opener between the Eagles and Falcons which started late due to bad weather.

Deadline reported that data added from NBC Sports Digital and NFL Digital platforms boosted the Thursday night game to a Total Audience Delivery of 20.3 million. That though represents an 11% drop from last year’s total number.

Last night’s game peaked between 9:15-9:30 PM ET when 22 million viewers tuned in to watch. Despite the drop in viewership NBC still won the night.

Given the circumstances surrounding this season, and seeing how numbers plummeted a few years ago, only time will tell if the NFL has another ratings problem on its hands or if last night’s decline was a one time occurrence. Either way, expect this to be a national story throughout the season.

Sports TV News

Adam Silver Addresses Disney Rumors at NBA Board of Governors Meeting

“I have no intention of going anywhere.”

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Adam Silver wants NBA team governors to know that he wants to keep working for them. The league commissioner addressed rumors that he is on a short list of potential successors for Bob Iger when he steps down from the CEO role at The Walt Disney Company in 2024.

Silver, whose contract with the NBA happens to expire in 2024, was asked directly if he had spoken with Iger or anyone else at Disney.

“I love my job at the NBA,” he reportedly said at a Board of Governors meeting. “I have no intention of going anywhere.”

The inclusion of Silver’s name on Iger’s list makes a lot of sense. The NBA and Disney have had a great relationship predating Silver taking over the commissioner’s role. ABC and ESPN are expected to renew their TV deal with the league this summer.

The two sides also partnered on a live entertainment complex at Disney Springs on Walt Disney World property in Florida called The NBA Experience. It closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

At 60 years old, Adam Silver is likely in no hurry to retire. When his contract with the NBA expires, it will be up to him whether he wants to remain the commissioner of the league or not.

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NFL Network Cuts Continue With Willie McGinest

“McGinest is currently in the middle of a lawsuit resulting from an incident in a LA-area restaurant in December.”

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Willie McGinest is the latest victim of cost reduction layoffs at NFL Media. The NFL Network analyst is out according to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.

McGinest is currently in the middle of a lawsuit resulting from an incident in an LA-area restaurant in December. He is being sued and faces up to eight years in prison for allegedly attacking a fellow customer.

Since news of the investigation became public, NFL Network has kept Willie McGinest off the air.

McCarthy reached out to McGinest and NFL Network. Neither offered a comment at this time.

NFL Media has been busy this week as the company looks to reduce its expenses. Willie McGinest joins Jim Trotter and Rachel Bonnetta on the list of on-air talents that have lost their jobs at NFL Network.

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Sports TV News

Holly Rowe Signs Long-Term Extension With ESPN

“I feel like I am living my best life and I am so grateful to ESPN for letting me keep doing this.”

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ESPN reporter Holly Rowe has signed a multi-year extension to remain with the company.

Rowe works as a sideline reporter for ESPN/ABC’s coverage of college football — including the College Football Playoffs, the WNBA, women’s college basketball, and the Women’s College World Series, among other high-profile assignments.

“I feel like I am living my best life and I am so grateful to ESPN for letting me keep doing this,” Rowe told The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch.

Earlier this year, Rowe was named the 2023 Curt Gowdy Media Award winner from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for her electronic media work.

Rowe joined ESPN in 1998, and signed her last contract extension with the network in 2018 shortly before she announced she had undergone her final chemotherapy treatment in August of that year after a melanoma diagnosis in 2016.

According to Deitsch, Rowe’s contract was set to expire next month.

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