Now it’s a game, indeed.
Thursday night’s Broncos-Cardinals game, simulcast by FOX and NFL Network, set a new low for games televised on broadcast TV.
According to Austin Karp of SportsBusiness Journal, the combined rating of 6.6 was “well below” the prior all-time low generated by a Seahawks-Buccaneers game on Sunday Night Football in 2008, which competed directly with Game Seven of the Tampa Bay Rays-Boston Red Sox ALCS.
Apart from the fact that Broncos-Cardinals was a lackluster matchup that quickly became a blowout, the game had plenty of competition, including Game Five of the Astros-Red Sox ALCS and an NBA doubleheader on TNT that included the debut of LeBron James with the Lakers in a game that tipped during the fourth quarter of Broncos-Cardinals.
To no surprise, the overnight number represents a 33-percent decline in comparison to last year’s Chiefs-Raiders Week Seven Thursday night game, broadcast by CBS and NFL Network.
The performance becomes further proof of the reality that more people will watch good football, and fewer people will watch bad football. Imagine that.