Most Watched Championships

General Media NCS Basketball Tradition21

Page B4 of today’s Wall Street Journal lists the 20 most watched NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships since 1971. They include the following:

(1) 1979 – Michigan State vs Indiana State (NBC) – 35.1 million viewers
(2) 1992 – Duke vs Michigan (CBS) – 34.3 million viewers
(3) 1993 – North Carolina vs Michigan (CBS) – 32.9 million viewers
(4) 1994 – Arkansas vs Duke (CBS) – 32.7 million viewers
(5) 1983 – NC State vs Houston (CBS) – 32.2 million viewers
…..
(9) 1982 – North Carolina vs Georgetown (CBS) – 30.6 million viewers
…..
(11) 1990 – UNLV vs Duke (CBS) – 29.3 million viewers
(12) 1981 – Indiana vs North Carolina (NBC) – 29.1 million viewers
(13) 1991 – Duke vs Kansas (CBS) – 29.0 million viewers
(14) 1986 – Louisville vs Duke (CBS) – 28.7 million viewers

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General Media NCS Basketball Tradition

21 Responses to Most Watched Championships

  1. noah 04/02/2007 at 9:05 AM #

    Twenty-nine million people watched UNLV-Dook in 1990? I wonder how many people were watching by halftime…

    That night, there was a huge thunderstorm where I lived. That was far more interesting than the game. Greg Fischel would break in and give updates and say, “We’ll get you right back to the game” and you could hear the Dook fans saying, “No rush…”

  2. WP 01 04/02/2007 at 9:06 AM #

    that indicates that March Madness is losing its popularity based on the majority of the higher ratings occuring years back. Most recent 13 years back? Interesting….I thought March Madness was as popular as ever.

  3. MadWolf92 04/02/2007 at 9:34 AM #

    The real popularity explosion is in the first two rounds. I can just about guarantee that *those* are a lot more watched now.

  4. Jeff 04/02/2007 at 9:34 AM #

    I can remember where I was for almost every one of these games.

    The UNLV-Duke game was the end of my freshman year. My friends had a big keg party in Bragaw. It got as ugly as the game. I think that the dining hall had served fried mushrooms earlier that evening for dinner.

  5. primacyone 04/02/2007 at 9:50 AM #

    ^Fried mushrooms and a beer bong/funnel. Never a good mix.

  6. noah 04/02/2007 at 9:52 AM #

    Ratings for everything are down. There are far more options today. It’s the reason the creative process for programming shows has completely changed.

    It’s why the Superbowl isn’t a game, it’s a whole production event. It’s the reason for overloading you with information. It’s why they have to run ads DURING the games.

    PLEASE DONT CHANGE THE CHANNEL!! We’ll give you everything you neeeeed!

  7. BoKnowsNCS71 04/02/2007 at 10:03 AM #

    Saturation is probably a culprit in any numbers drop. There are far more games on more channels now than then.

    I woudl wonder if the proliferation of TVs and available channels plus alternative media (x boxes, PC gaming, etc) loses some of the younger audience.

    Perhaps also it takes a “Thrillah in Manilla” type story game that pits two super teams or super players against each other (but then where is Villanova vs. Georgetown?) — or the David meets Goliath story like State vs Houston.

    If the story line and the basketball is good — you get the bigger audience.

  8. redfred2 04/02/2007 at 10:08 AM #

    I’m kind of surprised that 1974-NCSU/UCLA game isn’t even on there. But, though I know it’s hard for many younger folks to believe now, back then the ACC tournament was (((IT))), and it signalled the end of the season for very many basketball fans around here.

  9. redfred2 04/02/2007 at 10:09 AM #

    ^What a dumbass I am, that wasn’t the championship game.

  10. Texpack 04/02/2007 at 10:13 AM #

    NCSU/UCLA was a semi-final game. My kids aren’t terribly interested in the Final Four. I’m afraid it’s a Texas thing, because the 11 year old can give you the entire bowl schedule from memory during “Crapital One Bowl Week.”

  11. joe 04/02/2007 at 11:03 AM #

    Young kids are not watching as much FB, BB, and other mainstream sports so ratings are probably going to continue to decline.

  12. beowolf 04/02/2007 at 11:49 AM #

    Yeah, if they want to capture a younger audience, they’ll have to call it “NCAA Idol” and have “celebrity refs” (who probably would do a better job than a real ref).

  13. redfred2 04/02/2007 at 12:40 PM #

    Nah, it’s only real to them when it’s interactive on XBox.

    It’s Extreme Basket Ball, where every shot is a thunderous 360 degree windmill slam after leaving the floor at the top of the key, then mouthing off at the defender before heading down court.

  14. Rick 04/02/2007 at 1:17 PM #

    I bet these viewership paled in comparison to the Cosida Classic we hosted every year.

  15. BoKnowsNCS71 04/02/2007 at 1:30 PM #

    NCAA Idol – Hmmmm then we could vote Yoakim “Sanjiya” Noah off the team.

    And at least we would still hate the judges/refs like we do now.

    The main thing I don’t like is that it starts at 9 EST (or really at (9:30) and has tons of timeouts so that the game is over around 1 AM. I know we have to satisfy those viewers on the left coast but with two Eastern teams playing — only the bracketeers will watch out there.

  16. beowolf 04/02/2007 at 1:48 PM #

    I’d like to hear the “Simon” equivalent ripping Duke’s floppers.

  17. BoKnowsNCS71 04/02/2007 at 2:43 PM #

    It would go like —

    “Mr Paulus — I’m sorry but that performance had no feeeeeling. You are going to have to better than that or you might be in trouble.”

  18. Rick 04/02/2007 at 2:50 PM #

    Herb’s offense would be the basketball version of William Hung’s “she bangs”.

  19. noah 04/02/2007 at 3:06 PM #

    That people here actually watch enough American Idol to riff on it depresses me.

  20. packpigskinfan23 04/02/2007 at 4:04 PM #

    idol is actually really entertaining… the quality of the show has leaped in the past few years. much better than that DAMN dancing with the stars with one-legged money whores and old athletes that cant dance(Jerry Rice is the greatest of all time. I am a HUGE Niners fan, but dude couldnt dance!!!)

    all you have to do to increase the ratings is have a UFC octagon off in the corner and during timeouts (instead of useless talking about how “special” it is to see Cryler pick the cotton out of his bloody nose) show two grown men beat the shit out of each other…. I mean most of these fights only last 2 mins anyways.

  21. noah 04/03/2007 at 10:41 AM #

    American Idol is the Gong Show for the 21st century.

    And yes, people are going to look back at its audience in 20 years and think, “What the hell is the matter with you??”

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