The NFL's first week of action was full of dramatic moments that reminded each and every football fan how much they actually missed the NFL over the last 7 months. From Gus Johnson's call of Broncos' WR Brandon Stokley's miracle tip drill game winning catch to Leodis McKelvin and the Buffalo Bills' inexplicable and stomach punch loss against the Patriots on MNF the NFL delivered with plenty of must see moments.
The ratings as broken down by Nielsen, show that the NFL, if you can believe it, is growing significantly. Here's the breakdown of the ratings from last year's Week 1 games versus this year.
TELECAST - 2009 VIEWERS - 2008 VIEWERS - % CHANGE
NBC Thurs Kickoff (TEN-PIT) - 20,909,000 - 13,478,000 - 55%
FOX National (NY-WAS; STL-SEA; SF-ARI) - 25,109,000 - 20,921,000 - 20%
NBC SNF (CHI-GB) - 21,102,000 - 18,352,000 - 15%
ESPN MNF (NE-BUF) - 14,001,000 - 12,501,000 - 12%
ESPN MNF (SD-OAK) - 11,945,000 - 9,665,000 - 24%
Perhaps most impressive, NBC's telecast of the Packers win over the Bears was the highest rated Sunday night game for the NFL since 1987.
If the trend of strong ratings continues, based on Week 1's strong performance and the carry over effects of last year's Super Bowl between the Steelers and Cardinals, which was the most watched Super Bowl of all-time we're going to be looking at the most successful year ever for the NFL in TV by a large margin.
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