1. Followers have been again within the stands, broadcasters have been again in stadiums and, till omicron determined to wreak havoc on us in December, it appeared the pandemic was on the decline.
All of that added up to substantial ratings will increase this common season for each community that aired the NFL.
By way of Austin Karp of Sports activities Enterprise Journal, NBC and ESPN loved a ten% year-over-year improve in ratings, whereas CBS noticed a 9% bump and Fox generated a 3% improve.
Whereas the playoff image isn’t utterly set but, it’s straightforward to see that the ratings will increase ought to proceed and might be fairly vital.
The league has the right mixture of groups, gamers and story strains able to go for the postseason.
No one brings in additional fringe viewers and informal followers than Tom Brady. Aaron Rodgers has turn out to be an enemy to some and a hero to others. Both manner, that’ll convey eyeballs to the TV set. The Chiefs are again to being probably the most entertaining soccer crew within the league. The most important draw within the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys, are within the playoffs. And two groups from the nation’s second-largest TV market, the Chargers and Rams, might be within the postseason.
Regardless of the problems the pandemic introduced on final season, the NFL managed to complete 2021 with 9 of the highest 10 most-viewed packages of the yr.
Two issues stand out right here:
One, the Christmas Day sport between the Browns and Packers was a giant success for Fox, because the ninth-most seen program of 2021. The 4:25 p.m. ET NFL sport on Christmas Day is right here to remain.
Two: The facility of the Cowboys remains to be actual. The lone nonholiday regular-season sport to crack the highest 10 was the Week 11 matchup between Dallas and Kansas Metropolis.
With no presidential inauguration this yr and the good mixture of groups and gamers within the playoff, it may very well be 10 out of 10 for the NFL in 2022.
2. This week’s SI Media Podcast, which dropped Thursday afternoon, is a roundtable version that includes Al Michaels and Tom Rinaldi on the profession of John Madden.
Michaels, who labored with Madden for seven seasons, and Rinaldi, who was a director on the current Fox Sports activities documentary about Madden, share behind-the-scenes tales, give us perception into Madden’s persona and focus on a number of the memorable relationships Madden had all through his profession.
The whole lot from Madden’s concern of flying to the Madden Cruiser to his partnership with Pat Summerall and far more is roofed.
Following Michaels and Rinaldi is the weekly “Traina Ideas” phase with Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY TV in New York. This week, Sal and I discuss his bout with COVID-19, response to a Wizards broadcaster making an harmless mistake, Kirk Herbstreit’s current controversial feedback and the most effective issues we watched over the vacations.
You’ll be able to hearken to the podcast beneath or obtain it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.
You can too watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
3. You recognize if you go to the barbershop and it has the poster on the wall with the assorted haircuts you may get? Kenny Smith thinks he discovered a kind of posters with a younger Charles Barkley on it, and Smith hilariously confronted Barkley about it on Contained in the NBA final night time.
4. Keep in mind again in early November when Nikola Jokić gave a vicious sucker shot from behind to Markieff Morris?
Markieff has been sidelined since that incident and his brother Keef shared his ideas on the state of affairs yesterday with one hell of a tweet.
5. ESPN has introduced that its new Sunday Night time Baseball crew might be Karl Ravech, David Cone and Eduardo Perez.
6. If, like me, you have turn out to be enamored with Wordle and wish a repair greater than as soon as a day, certainly one of my Twitter followers has come by for us.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I noticed this on TikTok yesterday and I had by no means seen it earlier than, I don’t know what firm it is for and I’ve so many questions.
You should definitely catch up on previous editions of Traina Ideas and take a look at the Sports activities Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can too observe Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.
