SKEDBALL: Weekend Sports Ratings Bowl

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In addition to the four usual NFL time periods on Sunday (two 1:00 pm games, a 4:30 pm national game and the 8:30 game on NBC), Thanksgiving day featured a national NFL tripleheader.  Of all the games this week, the 12:45 Thanksgiving game on CBS was the highest-rated (15.2 household rating in the 56 metered markets), followed by the 4:30 late afternoon Sunday game on FOX (15.0 rating) and the 4:45 pm Thanksgiving game on FOX (14.5 rating).  Last night’s Sunday Night Football game on NBC was in the middle of the pack with a 13.5 rating.  Toward the bottom (but still at strong levels relative to everything else on TV): the Thanksgiving night game on NBC (11.5), and the Sunday 1:00 pm games that mostly air against each other (10.6 on FOX and 10.5 in CBS).

As usual, monstrous local ratings were delivered by fans of New England, New Orleans, Green Bay and Pittsburgh (all above a 40 rating in their markets for their games).  A notch below are fans in Baltimore, Indianapolis, Cleveland and Denver (30-39 rating in their markets for their games this week).  The Hall of Shame awards go to San Diego and Tampa Bay fans — their home games were blacked out in those markets because the stadiums did not sell out.

SATURDAY COLLEGE FOOTBALL.  ABC ruled the sports time period Saturday with a national tripleheader featuring two undefeated teams (Ohio State, which is disqualified from bowl games because of NCAA sanctions, and Notre Dame, which is headed to the national championship).  All three games Saturday afternoon and evening managed double-digit household shares nationally and the primetime coronation of the Fighting Irish against arch-rival USC hit a double-digit household rating — a notable achievement for any sporting event outside of the NFL.

CBS, FOX and ESPN struggled in the 1-2 household rating range with unattractive or meaningless games, while NBC took the prize for Pointless Telecast: less than a 1 rating and only a 1 share for Grambling versus Southern University in the so-called Bayou Classic.