While it’s too early to start wringing hands and/or gnashing teeth about TV ratings for 2017, ESPN’s debut broadcast did not fare well. At all.
Via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times, Thursday’s games between the Buccaneers and the Jaguars generated a 1.6 rating. Based on numbers from Sports Media Watch, that’s the lowest rating for a preseason game since 2005.
Twelve years ago, a tape-delayed showing of a Falcons-Colts game produced a 1.5 rating.
Yes, Thursday’s game featured a pair of teams who haven’t been to the postseason in a decade. But the Jaguars have their annual “maybe they wont’ stink this year” buzz, and the Bucs are the 2017 Hard Knocks darlings.
So it should be a little alarming that so few tuned in to watch the game -- even if the ongoing hemorrhaging of subscribers probably has something to do with the dip in the ESPN audience.