NFL Viewing Is Even Higher This Season

People really like to watch football on TV. That’s shocking news, I know.

For the first week of the season, NFL games averaged 22.3 million viewers, the biggest number ever.  Viewership was up 5% from last year.

Some of the increase might come from the new way Nielsen is making its estimates, using a methodology it calls Big Data + Panel.

The opening night game between the Cowboys and the Eagles drew 28.1 million.

Sunday Night Football on NBC kicked off with 24.7 million viewers for that spectacular last-minute Buffalo win over the Ravens.

On Monday night, ESPN said that 22.1 million viewers watched the Minnesota Vikings’ last-minute victory over the Chicago Bears.

The network said the game was the second most-watched Week 1 MNF game ever and up 8% from last years MNF opening week contest.

The opening week ratings don’t include the Friday night game played in Sao Paulo, Brazil, between the Chargers and the Chiefs.

At first, YouTube said 17.3 million people watched the game globally and 16.2 in the U.S. A few days later, YouTube claimed it had made a mistake, and 19.2 million had tuned in globally and 18.5 million in the U.S.

It’s odd that the numbers weren’t much higher than a year ago, when 14.2 million watched on Peacock. Peacock has about 40 million subscribers. YouTube made the game available to anyone with an internet connection.

The top regular season game on streaming was registered by Netflix on Christmas Day. 

The YouTube numbers weren’t included in the overall total because they were calculated using a methodology that was not accredited–something NBC and Fox officials complained about

The first week of college football games also posted big numbers, led by Ohio State’s win against then top-rated Texas with 16.62 million viewers watching the Fox telecast, according to Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel methodology.

Other games drawing more than 10 million viewers were MIami beating Notre Dame with 10.8 million viewers on ABC, Florida State beating Alabama with 10.66 million and LSA topping  Clemson with 10.45 million viewers.

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WIN SOME LOSE SOME

Growing up in New York, I remember watching college football on TV. It was mostly the legendary rivalry games: Ohio State-Michigan, Oklahoma-Nebraska, Notre Dame-USC, Alabama-Auburn. I didn’t really have have a team I was connected to.

Now it’s different. I married into a Notre Dame family and my daughter goes to Ole Miss. I’ve been to a bunch of games in South Bend, and a couple in Oxford and soaked up the atmosphere.

On Saturday night,  the Ole Miss-Arkansas game and Notre Dame-Texas A&M were on at the same time, more or less, so I was nervously flipping between a pair of tight games.

Ole MIss held on for the victory. The Rebels are undefeated. Notre Dame lost in the fourth quarter after botching an extra point.  The Irish are 0-2.

Could have been worse. I’ll be watching next week.

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PUT ME IN COACH

Speaking of Ole Miss, ESPN  has put together a new episode of E60 that will look at Rebels’ head coach Lane Kiffin.

ESPN says that in addition to tracing the ups and downs, twists and turns of his career,  The Many Lives of Lane Kiffin features the coach engaging in a candid conversation about  his path to sobriety, his commitment to self-improvement through practices like hot yoga, and his renewed focus on family.”

The show will have its debut on ESPN on September 24 at 7 p.m. ET. An extended version will be available on the ESPN app after the debut.

And after the episode airs, Kiffin and Ole Miss will be taking on LSU on ESPN on September 27.

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BETTING ON THE LONG SHOT

Do you like watching NBA players take impossibly long shots at the end of the quarter? 

I bet you do. 

According to an article in The Athletic, the league has changed the way it keeps score and that means you might see more of them.

Under the old rules, last-second heaves counted as missed shots. That meant the guy who had the ball at the end of the quarter. Take a long, low-percentage shot or just dribble out the clock. Some guys decided that they wanted to protect their shooting stats and declined the shot.

Under the new rule, that end of the quarter Hail Mary will count as a team attempt–no damage to the shooter’s percentage if he missed.

More shots, more better right?

Over the last few years, some great players have taken a fair number of  buzzer-beaters, and (no surprise) their percentages are pretty low on shots with three seconds or less left attempted from at least 36 feet away.

Take Nikola Jokic. The Joker took 57 last minute heaves, and just four went in. Fred Van Vleet tried it 53 times, and three found the net. Both are pretty good shooters.

Steph Curry did a big better, of course, with seven makes in 51 tries. Jordan Poole was pretty good too, with 5 made in 32 attempts.

The new rule will be especially good news for Anthony Edwards, who had 32 attempts at beating the buzzer and canned none of them.

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KIDS SAY THE DARNEST THINGS

I try to stay young by seeing what my college-age daughter does and listening to what she says. For a while, my daughter and her friends have been using the expression (6-7), They even put it on a cake, even though they really couldn't explain what it means.

The other day, I caught Jim Nantz saying “6-7” during an NFL broadcast. He must have kids he listens to also.

So here’s another shoutout to The Athletic, which has a very long story explaining the origins of the phrase.  The story is at least a full 8-9, on a scale of 10.