Bulls of the week
The NFL might have seen some of its wild-card TV windows dip slightly in terms of viewership last weekend — on both sides of the border — but overall, it was still a very bullish week of fan engagement for the Shield.
Not only did the NFL’s media rights partners average American national audiences of 27.895 million viewers per game, they did so despite lopsided scores in five of the six wild-card matchups.
In the face of an average margin of victory of more than 15 points, all six games drew more than 20 million viewers in terms of average U.S. national audience, including a record-setting 22.07 million for the Baltimore Ravens’ 28-14 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the most-watched exclusively streamed playoff game on record.
The real story behind the TV ratings going into the four divisional round playoff games this weekend is how the NFL is matching its on-field parity with TV equity, where many of the best numbers for the regular season belong to small-market teams.
The most-watched NFL franchise this season is the 15-2 Detroit Lions, who averaged TV audiences of 22.65 million in the 14th largest TV market in the U.S., just a shade north of the 7-10 Dallas Cowboys, typically the biggest draw in football.
According to Sportico, the Cowboys averaged 22.47 million per game playing in the fifth-largest TV market in the U.S. Not making the playoffs, they were the only top-10 market among the five most-popular NFL teams on TV.
In a tribute to the NFL’s media strategy, four of the top-five and six of the top-10 TV performers this year hail from small markets, including No. 3 Kansas City (the reigning Super Bowl champions that are vying for a historic third straight title and drawing 22.07 million per game in the nation’s 33rd largest designated market area); No. 4 Green Bay (21.1 million/DMA No. 38); No. 5 Baltimore (20.99 million/DMA No. 29); No. 9 Buffalo (19.67 million/DMA No. 54); and No. 10 Minneapolis-St. Paul (18.81 million/DMA No. 16).
Since 2005, it hasn’t mattered who makes it to the Super Bowl; it will consistently drive north of 100 million viewers regardless of the matchup. That balance — driven by sport betting, fantasy football, destination TV and parity — has now evolved into a regular season where small-market teams can compete with and even outperform the New Yorks, L.A.s, Chicagos and other big markets in the NFL.
Bears of the week
It’s been a bearish week to forget for the two largest English-language markets among the Group of Seven Canadian teams in the NHL; the Toronto Maple Leafs (losers of three straight games before beating New Jersey on Thursday), and the Vancouver Canucks (with only one win all week).
The Canucks feel more rudderless and uninspired since they’ve been outscored 11-2 in their last two games against Winnipeg and Los Angeles.
The biggest bear-of-the-week, however, is Tom Brady, who is under significant scrutiny in his role as Fox Sports’ top-seeded colour commentator, especially given one of his other roles as a minority owner in the Las Vegas Raiders.
It’s always been an awkward situation for Brady, Fox and the NFL, but it’s taken over as a major talking point given Brady’s assignment to the Lions versus Washington Commanders divisional game Saturday afternoon.
Two of the Lions’ assistant coaches just happen to be candidates for the head-coaching gig in Vegas and Brady’s involved in the interview process. Something will have to give at some point when it comes to this particular conflict of interest. There’s too much being compromised at present.
Tom Mayenknecht is the host of The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650 on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Vancouver-based sport business commentator and principal in Emblematica Brand Builders provides a behind-the-scenes look at the sport business stories that matter most to fans. Follow Mayenknecht at: x.com/TheSportMarket.