World Series Television Ratings
Baseball purists – and sports purists, for that matter – hate the fact that business drives so many decisions in Major League Baseball. However, one decision MLB’s league office can’t directly control is which teams ascend to the World Series.
The MLB has been beat up during this postseason with each successive Red Sox, Phillies, and Yankees loss. Each of those teams bring their army of passionate fans not only to the stadium, but to the seats and barstools planted directly in front of the television. When they don’t play deep into October, postseason television ratings suffer.
So purists rejoice, the St. Louis Cardinals are hosting the Texas Rangers in tonight’s Game 1 of the 2011 World Series. The fans of both teams are passion-rich, yet number-poor and do not carry the TV ratings of their brethren of the Northeast. And considering (1) the last time the Central time zone hosted the entirety of the World Series – in 2005, Astros v. White Sox – the MLB endured the lowest TV ratings to date, and (2) World Series ratings have dropped 74% since their peak in 1978 and 46% in the last 10 years alone, this World Series is almost assured to usher in the lowest TV ratings in the event’s history.
Via TVbytheNumbers.com, here are the World Series ratings data, from 1968-2010:
UPDATE (10/27) – Through five games, the 2011 World Series (Rangers v. Cardinals) television ratings are at an 8.3, down from last year’s 8.4 for the Rangers v. Giants series.
UPDATE (10/29) – The 2011 World Series television ratings received a huge bump from Game 6 and 7, finishing at a 10.0. It’s a 19% increase over last year, but still the third lowest ever and certainly the lowest amongst 6- or 7-game series.
Game 6 was amazing though, not sure what the ratings were, but assume they weren’t as high as they should have been. I am betting that baseball fans tuned the series out, guilty I am. But for some reason I tuned in that night, call it dumb luck. Probably the single most exciting game I have ever watched real time. Almost had the Boise State trick play feel to it.
Looks like historically the best ratings belong to Dodgers/Evil Empire series???!!!! Hmmmm??
You’re right Camo…back when the Dodgers were worth watching.