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2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Title-game ratings down

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6News Championship Celebration

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Coverage of the festivities after the Jayhawks became the NCAA National Champions.

New York — Even with a dramatic finish, Monday's championship game couldn't match the TV ratings for last year's final.

Kansas' 75-68 overtime victory over Memphis on CBS drew a fast national rating of 12.1 and a 20 share, down 8 percent from 2007. Last season's title game, in which Florida beat Ohio State to become the first team in 15 years to repeat as champions, earned a 13.2.

Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions watching a program. The share is the percentage tuned in among households with the TV on.

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Comments

niao (anonymous) says...

Perhaps people thought it would not be an interesting game. Well, they missed a great one!

April 9, 2008 at 4:20 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawker_97 (anonymous) says...

that's because the rating didn't take into acct how many KU fans flock together to AFH, bars, even at homes together as family. Florida or Ohio State don't have fans base as large or as harmony as those of KU's .Rock Chalk!!

April 9, 2008 at 6:52 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

plasticJHawk (anonymous) says...

How big are Florida and Ohio State's fan bases?I kinda thought they were pretty big...

April 9, 2008 at 7:50 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

It just doesn't matter what Kansas or the Big 12 does. The rest of the country does not want to see it or hear it... they'll forget it as soon as they can find another East Coast or SEC team to play for a title. I have to say... the feeling is mutual. I didn't give a crap about the last two championship games and I didn't watch them.

April 9, 2008 at 8:28 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jpstrayer (anonymous) says...

Maybe they should have counted my house...I could have turned on five TVs to the game....HaHaHa!

April 9, 2008 at 8:51 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

speedy (anonymous) says...

back in 88 the same tv stats showed that the country and the networks like east coast,big 10, or ucla on tv. same bias with the people who do the games. except fran f. and his partner who tend to keep focused on the game itself. not one idiot on espn would admit that KU WON, that memphis gave it away was their views. it took both things and KU showed it never quit.they had to score to get to overtime. so just as i felt back in 88 take that the rest of you!

April 9, 2008 at 9:45 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

dagger108 (anonymous) says...

Their loss.Ratings are presented almost as if to measure the significance of the game. It really just measures the hype of the game.The talking heads blew it this time, because it was "an instant classic" regardless of whether anyone on the EC was watching at midnight or not.

April 9, 2008 at 11:24 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

oldboy (anonymous) says...

Does the fact that ratings were down mean that neither Memphis or Kansas can play in next year's finals? They tried to keep both of them out this year with their brackets with no success. There is always that East and West coast bias to deal with but what television can sell doesn't mean a whole lot about who gets to be one of the 65 teams.We must remember that the ESPN crew had one man who declared for Kansas last fall and remained steadfast in his belief in them all season, right up to the end, Jay Bilas. Hubert Davis stayed with them nearly all the way until the Davidson game and he jumped ship.Isn't it great that we don't need any of them to be for us for the team to respond as it did this time?

April 9, 2008 at 11:33 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

DrPepper (anonymous) says...

More to this story was in yesterday's USA Today sport's section.They reported that the championship game ratings hadn't been this low since 2003. Ouch! That was the last time KU played in the NC game.

April 9, 2008 at 11:57 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Bleed_Crimson_Blue (anonymous) says...

It was due to the extrememly late start. The game didn't start until 9:30 on the east coast (on a weekday). The national talk shows were talking that it was just too late to start a game. That's why there were low ratings... Not the fact it was "ignored"

April 9, 2008 at 1:14 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Strikewso (anonymous) says...

Yeah, it was the same in '88. Means absolutely nothing to me, a ton of people still saw it and the ones that didn't missed the game of the century.

April 9, 2008 at 1:16 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhwkfan162515 (anonymous) says...

And also because people on both coasts, particularly in NYC and LA, seem to think the world revolves around what goes on with them, and nothing good can come from the Midwest.Incidentally, didn't the KU-OU game in 1988 set the all-time record for lowest Nielsen ratings for a title game on prime-time TV?

April 9, 2008 at 1:18 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

kc_wildfire (anonymous) says...

The game starts the same time every year so that argument goes out the window.

April 9, 2008 at 3:10 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

Yes Bleed Crimson... that late start time is FOR the sake of ratings... If they start it at 8:30 ET, that would be 5:30 PT and that would be more people on the west cost that would have a hard time tuning in for the start and all the pre-game propoganda. It will never change if that is deemed the 'ideal' start time. They know people from the east coast will still watch it late... IFFFF they care. The fact remains, they don't when it's midwest teams.

April 9, 2008 at 4:40 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

cklarock (anonymous) says...

I think this is due in part to the over-commercialization of the tourney. Die-hard basketball fans have been bemoaning the incremental sell-outs that suck atmosphere from the events. The TV audiences are apparently dwindling as well.When you are trying to market a sport, but appear to have no sense of the heart of that sport, you're just going to turn people off.That said, I don't care if the casual fans drop out-- the real basketball people will always follow and enjoy the tourney.

April 9, 2008 at 6:36 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Bleed_Crimson_Blue (anonymous) says...

Think what you want, but I was listening to sports radio, out of New York, and the host specifically said, "The ratings for this game are going to be down. Starting a basketball game at 9:30 with it ending around midnight is too late." Get a clue people. Stop feeling so disrespected. We just won the freaking national title!Rock Chalk!

April 9, 2008 at 8:59 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Point 1: We do get horrible treatment by the national sports media whores. We are not the only ones that get it, but we are the only Cadillac program that gets such shabby treatment.Point 2: With ratings down significantly this year, look for major program teams from lesser markets to get even more good teams stacked against them via seeding next year. I still say KU had the toughest bracket this year. KU just got lucky with upsets that KOed Clemson and some of the other toughies early. And think about KU having to play UNC and them Memphis. UNC was the Number 1 ranked team in the country much of the season and they were the number one seeded team in the tourney. KU, not UCLA got to play unc before getting to the final.Point 3: Let's just hope and pray that referees are not pressured into biasing outcomes toward major market teams. A seven percent decline translates out to huge advertising bucks.Point 4: Of COURSE the ratings were going to be down this year. ESPNema, for one example, spent the entire season underreporting and minimizing KU to the task bar. And KU was arguably the best team in the country for a third of the season. What do the TV idiots expect? When you underreport the team that gets to the Final Four, and downplay them as much as possible in the tournament, and even during the Final Four, then it becomes a self-fulfllling prophesy. Ratings are low, because no one cares about KU, because they have not been hyped relentlessly hard by the sports media talking whores, as UNC and UCLA and to a lesser extent Memphis had been. Point 5: Thank god for Doc Allen getting the tournament instituted. If the sports media talking whores had their way they would like to select that winner themselves; that way they wouldn't look so stupid so often when the teams they have shilled for all season don't win it all, baby.

April 9, 2008 at 11:17 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

didjabuti (anonymous) says...

jaybate, what you just said got me thinking. Point 4 to be exact. ESPN's reporting, or lack thereof, was one reason for the ratings being so low. And ESPN does not have any rights for the tournament. I'm sure they would love them though....hmmmmmm. Not that I think they are that clever to think that they should underreport KU because of the chance they could get to the title game. buuuuuuut......the reporting once they got there, who knows? Like I said, it just got me thinking.

April 10, 2008 at 4:17 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

Must be low because we have fans that actually TRAVEL to the Final Four sites AND like the 10,000 that packed Allen Fieldhouse ...I don't care if no one watched outside of the states of Kansas and Tennessee, our guys still kicked ass! :D

April 12, 2008 at 2:36 p.m. ( | suggest removal )