Monthly Archives: November 2011
Sports Media Weekly Podcast No. 81- James Andrew Miller, Author
ESPN-talk dominates this week’s edition of the Sports Media Weekly Podcast. Ken Fang of Fang’s Bites and I lead-off the show talking about ESPN’s handling of the Bernie Fine sexual assault allegations.
Joining us for his second appearance is James Andrew Miller, co-author of Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN. In advance of the release of the paperback version, we ask Jim about what’s new in the paperback version as well as getting his reaction to a number of ESPN stories since the release of the book in May.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Solid Ratings Numbers Continue for the NFL
The week 12 ratings numbers for the NFL are in, and they continue to be strong, buoyed by a trio of intriguing Thanksgiving Day match-ups.
The holiday offering of the Dolphins at the Cowboys earned an audience of 30.9 million viewers for CBS, the highest audience this fall. It’s also CBS’s most watched holiday game since it acquired the AFC package in 1998.
CBS’s Sunday national telecast (primarily Patriots/Eagles) scored an audience of 26.3 million viewers, the most watched Sunday game for CBS this season.
Fox had a Thanksgiving rating of 15.8 for Packers/Lions, the highest rated holiday game on the network since 1996.
The NFL Network’s Thanksgiving telecast of 49′ers and Ravens drew 10.7 million viewers, making it the most watched program in the eight year history of the network.
Ratings continue to be strong in the local NFL markets, as games were the number one program in 28 of the 30 NFL markets last week:
| Market | Game |
Date |
RTG |
SHR |
Rank |
| Pittsburgh | Steelers at Chiefs |
11/27/11 |
50.7 |
67 |
1 |
| Baltimore | 49ers at Ravens** |
11/24/11 |
41.0 |
71 |
1 |
| Boston | Patriots at Eagles |
11/27/11 |
38.7 |
60 |
1 |
| Milwaukee | Packers at Lions |
11/24/11 |
37.0 |
74 |
1 |
| Buffalo | Bills at Jets |
11/27/11 |
36.7 |
61 |
1 |
| Chicago | Bears at Raiders |
11/27/11 |
35.1 |
56 |
1 |
| Denver | Broncos at Chargers |
11/27/11 |
34.4 |
63 |
1 |
| Kansas City | Steelers at Chiefs |
11/27/11 |
33.8 |
48 |
1 |
| San Diego | Broncos at Chargers |
11/27/11 |
31.9 |
60 |
1 |
| Cleveland | Browns at Bengals |
11/27/11 |
30.7 |
55 |
1 |
| Detroit | Packers at Lions |
11/24/11 |
30.5 |
61 |
1 |
| Philadelphia | Patriots at Eagles |
11/27/11 |
30.5 |
49 |
1 |
| Nashville | Buccaneers at Titans |
11/27/11 |
29.1 |
44 |
1 |
| Indianapolis | Panthers at Colts |
11/27/11 |
28.3 |
49 |
1 |
| Minneapolis | Vikings at Falcons |
11/27/11 |
27.9 |
57 |
1 |
| Seattle | Redskins at Seahawks |
11/27/11 |
26.2 |
53 |
1 |
| Dallas | Dolphins at Cowboys |
11/24/11 |
26.1 |
63 |
1 |
| Houston | Texans at Jaguars |
11/27/11 |
25.3 |
47 |
1 |
| Charlotte | Panthers at Colts |
11/27/11 |
23.7 |
43 |
1 |
| Atlanta | Vikings at Falcons |
11/27/11 |
23.6 |
44 |
1 |
| Washington, DC | Redskins at Seahawks |
11/27/11 |
22.1 |
39 |
1 |
| Jacksonville | Texans at Jaguars |
11/27/11 |
21.9 |
38 |
1 |
| San Fran-Oakland | 49ers at Ravens** |
11/24/11 |
21.2 |
57 |
1 |
| Phoenix | Packers at Lions |
11/24/11 |
20.9 |
41 |
1 |
| St. Louis | Cardinals at Rams |
11/27/11 |
20.0 |
37 |
1 |
| Miami | Dolphins at Cowboys |
11/24/11 |
18.6 |
44 |
1 |
| Cincinnati | Broncos at Chargers |
11/27/11 |
17.2 |
26 |
1 |
| Tampa | Buccaneers at Titans |
11/27/11 |
16.3 |
37 |
1 |
College Football Schedule This Week Across the ESPN Family of Networks
We are at the tail end of the 2011 college football season. Here is this week’s schedule across the networks of ESPN:
| Date | Time (ET) | Game/Commentators | Network |
| Thu, Dec 1 | 8 p.m. | No. 23 West Virginia at South Florida Rece Davis, Craig James, Jesse Palmer & Jenn Brown |
ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN 3D |
| Fri, Dec 2 | 7 p.m. | Marathon MAC Championship: Ohio vs. Northern Illinois Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore & Jeannine Edwards |
ESPN2 / ESPN3 |
| 8 p.m. | Pac-12 Championship Game: UCLA at No. 9 Oregon Dave Flemming, David Norrie & Ian Fitzsimmons |
ESPN Radio | |
| Sat, Dec 3 | Noon | Conference USA Championship: No. 24 Southern Miss at No. 6 Houston Mike Patrick, Craig James & Lisa Salters |
ABC |
| Connecticut at Cincinnati Dave Pasch, Chris Spielman & Quint Kessenich |
ESPN / ESPN3 | ||
| Syracuse at Pittsburgh Dave Lamont & Mike Bellotti |
ESPN2 / ESPN3 | ||
| 1 p.m. | NCAA Division I Football Championship Presented By Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Old Dominion at No. 3 Georgia Southern Doug Bell & John Bunting |
ESPN3* | |
| 2 p.m. | NCAA Division I Football Championship Presented By Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Maine at Appalachian State John Sadak & Rene Ingoglia |
ESPN3* | |
| NCAA Division I Football Championship Presented By Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Central Arkansas at No. 4 Montana Ryan Rose & Adam Archuletta |
ESPN3* | ||
| 3 p.m. | Troy at Arkansas State | ESPN3 | |
| NCAA Division I Football Championship Presented By Enterprise Rent-A-Car: New Hampshire at Montana State Trey Bender & Jay Taylor |
ESPN3* | ||
| NCAA Division I Football Championship Presented By Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Stony Brook at No. 1 Sam Houston State Dan Gutowsky & Warrick Dunn |
ESPN3* | ||
| 3:30 p.m. | No. 22 Texas at No. 17 Baylor Sean McDonough, Matt Millen & Samantha Steele |
ABC | |
| Utah State at New Mexico State | ESPN3 | ||
| NCAA Division I Football Championship Presented By Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Lehigh at Towson Bob Picozzi & John Gregory |
ESPN3* | ||
| 4 p.m. | Idaho at Nevada | ESPN3 | |
| NCAA Division I Football Championship Presented By Enterprise Rent-A-Car: James Madison at No. 2 North Dakota State Jim Barbar & Jay Walker |
ESPN3* | ||
| 5 p.m. | NCAA Division I Football Championship Presented By Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Wofford at No. 5 Northern Iowa Shawn Kenney & Rob Harley |
ESPN3* | |
| 7:30 p.m. | BYU at Hawaii Carter Blackburn & Brock Huard |
ESPN2 / ESPN3 | |
| 8 p.m. | No. 10 Oklahoma at No. 3 Oklahoma State Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge & Holly Rowe |
ABC | |
| Dr Pepper ACC Championship Game: No. 5 Virginia Tech vs. No. 20 Clemson ESPN: Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit & Heather Cox ESPN Radio: Bill Rosinski, Danny Kanell & Joe Schad |
ESPN / ESPN3 / ESPN 3D / ESPN Radio |
NBC Names Arlo White Lead MLS/U.S. National Team Announcer
The NBC Sports Group today announced that Arlo White, former play-by-play voice for the Seattle Sounders, has been hired by the network to be its voice for the MLS and Team USA soccer matches on NBC and NBC Sports Network.
The network is scheduled to telecast 50 MLS games per season beginning in 2012 as well as four U.S. National Team matches a year.
“Arlo is one of the top voices calling soccer today in the U.S., and we are very excited to have him be the lead play-by-play announcer to launch our new agreement with Major League Soccer,” said Sam Flood, Executive Producer, NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network in a press release. “I also want to sincerely thank the Seattle Sounders FC ownership for making Arlo available, so he can be the MLS voice for the NBC Sports Group to a national audience.”
“It is a tremendous honor for me to join the NBC Sports Group, an organization that I have revered from afar for many years,” said White. “I am extremely passionate about the future of Major League Soccer, and this partnership with NBC will provide a huge boost for the sport in the United States. I am very proud to have been called up to play a major role in it.”
Photo courtesy MLS Rumors
