A year ago, Saints fans were so furious about the pass interference no-call that went against them in the NFC Championship Game that they boycotted the Super Bowl, giving the New Orleans market the lowest TV rating for Super Bowl LIII of any American metropolitan area.
This year, Saints fans were again disappointed by a pass interference no-call that went against them in their postseason loss, but that no-call wasn’t quite as infuriating, and so Saints fans were back to watching the Super Bowl in large numbers.
FOX Sports announced that New Orleans posted an enormous 54.1 local rating for Super Bowl LIV. The New Orleans local rating was second only to Kansas City among all American markets, and it more than doubled the 26.1 local rating New Orleans had for the Super Bowl last year. It also beat the 53 local rating New Orleans had for the Super Bowl two years ago, showing that New Orleans is all the way back to loving football again.
New Orleans has consistently been among America’s best football cities, with a passion for the Saints, for LSU and for high school football. A bad call was enough to turn New Orleans away from the NFL briefly last year -- but only briefly.