As the Dallas Cowboys were sliding, on the way to a kind of ugly 31-10 loss to Oakland on Thursday, the ratings were soaring.
A real testament to the fact that Dallas has been, and always will be, a football city first, second and third, the ratings for last nights preseason snoozer were twice that of the Mavericks semifinal series with the Nuggets, and about seven times that of the Stars-Red Wings conference championship series in 2008.
Since I am poorly versed in the mysterious ways of Nielsen Ratings, and mumbo jumbo of that sort, I'll let Barry Horn, of the DMN Sports Media Blog explain:
14.8 percent of all homes with TVs in Dallas-Fort Worth were tuned in and 30 percent of the homes with TVs turned on were watching. How ridiculous is a 14.8 rating for the exhibition opener? Well, the Mavericks-Nuggets Western Conference semis playoff series averaged a 9.7 on cable only. The last time the Stars were in the playoffs, their Western Conference series against the Red Wings averaged a 2.4.
Obviously, the Stars are not nearly on the level of the Cowboys as far as popularity is concerned. But this isn't a regular season game. This is late-in-the-playoffs, best hockey you'll ever see type stuff. Fights. Goals. Shootouts. Overtime. Et cetera.
It all might come as a reality check to Mark Cuban, too.
The Mavericks have become a hot ticket under his watch, understandably, considering the hours and dollars Cuban puts into marketing on all levels. And yet, a pretty entertaining post-season series is less buzzworthy than, not just a preseason game, but the first preseason game--against the Oakland Raiders--in which each and every starter was off the field by half time.
Blue Star
The center of the Dallas Cowboys universe.
That the Cowboys are the biggest draw in town is old news. But the definitive beatdown they put on the city's other major teams in the ratings is, for lack of a better word at this point, amazing.
