Hot air: Cowboys help sell Sunday night
by Barry Horn
http://www.quickdfw.com
This Cowboys-Sunday Night Football thing is getting a little ridiculous.
The Cowboys were featured two weeks ago against the Giants. Now they're back to play the Bears on NBC.
The last time a team opened with two nationally televised night games in the opening three weeks of the season was 1978, when the Baltimore Colts were similarly favored by Monday Night Football.
Sunday night is the new Monday night. NBC has the designer TV package. The Cowboys-Bears will be the 21st regular-season game the NFL has scheduled for NBC since it returned to the ranks of television partner last year. This will mark the Cowboys' sixth appearance.
The Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts have been on four times, as have the San Diego Chargers. Sunday will mark the NFC champion Bears' fourth appearance. The New England Patriots have been included three times.
We all know what the Colts, Chargers, Bears and Patriots bring to a game. The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game since 1996. The Cowboys did make the playoffs last season. For the record: NBC broadcast the Cowboys' loss to the Seattle Seahawks on the first Saturday night of 2007. Al Michaels and John Madden could rival Brad Sham and Babe Laufenberg as the voices of the Cowboys.
So, why so much NFL-NBC love for the Cowboys?
That's simple. The Cowboys sell.
"The Cowboys probably engender more emotion than any other team in the National Football League," Michaels said via conference call this week. "Whether you love them or hate them, around the country, people pay a lot of attention to the Dallas Cowboys."
That's hardly "stop the presses" news. But why would the NFL favor NBC with the Cowboys' company? Every Cowboys game on NBC means one fewer Cowboys game on Fox or ESPN or CBS.
The Cowboys are scheduled to make a third NBC Sunday night appearance on Nov. 4, at Philadelphia. But the chance of any other Cowboys Sunday afternoon game during the second half of the season going prime time under the NBC "flex" option is remote. Fox is unlikely is give up any of its Cowboys games, starting with the Nov. 11 appearance at the Giants.
The NFL has a vested interest in the success of Sunday Night Football . It's the new game on the network block. The Sunday afternoon AFC and NFC packages are established money-making machines for the league. ESPN already pays more than the other network partners for its Monday Night Football package.
The NFL wants to stoke the Sunday night ratings to improve value for the next TV contract. NBC is paying the NFL a relatively paltry $600 million a season. That's the cheapest of all the NFL packages. What if Sunday Night Football, sixth among all prime-time offerings in its debut season, climbs to the top?
And what better way to get there than with the Cowboys at the head of the bandwagon?
"The Dallas Cowboys have more fans than any team in the country," Madden said. "When you go on the road and you go to the visiting team hotel, the Dallas Cowboys lead the league in hotel lobbies. You go to some teams, and there'll be like 10 people in the lobby. You go to the Dallas Cowboys, and there will be like 1,000. It's just that wherever the Cowboys go, they are stars."
NFL TV CONTRACTS: First and 10
1. NBC's Sunday Night Football has been the No. 1 show in prime time two consecutive weeks.
2. Yes, it beat the Emmys on Fox. Final score nationally: 9.8-8.4.
3. It wouldn't be a bad bet to wager that the Cowboys-Bears make it three straight No. 1s. Unless, of course, you mind taking prohibitive favorites.
4. Cowboys-Dolphins posted a 25.5 rating in D-FW on Sunday afternoon. That equals last season's lowest Cowboys rating, drawn for a noon kickoff against the Titans. The game against the Dolphins drew almost 200,000 fewer homes than tuned into the season opener against the Giants. That's a lot.
5. Relying on two running backs might work for the Cowboys, but it doesn't appear to be working out so great for Jerome Bettis at NBC. Tiki Barber has clearly eclipsed Bettis as the go-to back in the studio. Maybe Bettis should demand a trade. Fox sure could use someone who played or coached in the NFL during this millennium.
6. Speaking of running backs in the studio, ESPN's Emmitt Smith was certainly more impressive when he let his feet do his talking.
7. CBS' pregame show has beaten the Fox pregame show in the ratings two consecutive weeks. That's big news only because, entering this season, CBS had beaten Fox only five times since the pregames started going head to head in 1998.
8. The Cowboys are undefeated, and Fox's A-team has yet to call one of their games. That streak will end at three next week, when Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are scheduled to call the noon game against the Rams at Texas Stadium.
9. NBC, the Notre Dame network, is saddled with an awful team that could be 0-8 before home games against Navy and Air Force. But ask yourself this: Might a winless Notre Dame team attract more eyeballs for NBC than a mediocre one? It's the "watching a car wreck theory" of ratings.
10. Think about this the next time you scoff at Terrell Owens' on-field "look-at-me" antics. For the opening on Sunday night, NBC picked one Cowboy to join Heroes star Masi Oka. Yes, it will be T.O. joining M.O.
http://www.quickdfw.com
This Cowboys-Sunday Night Football thing is getting a little ridiculous.
The Cowboys were featured two weeks ago against the Giants. Now they're back to play the Bears on NBC.
The last time a team opened with two nationally televised night games in the opening three weeks of the season was 1978, when the Baltimore Colts were similarly favored by Monday Night Football.
Sunday night is the new Monday night. NBC has the designer TV package. The Cowboys-Bears will be the 21st regular-season game the NFL has scheduled for NBC since it returned to the ranks of television partner last year. This will mark the Cowboys' sixth appearance.
The Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts have been on four times, as have the San Diego Chargers. Sunday will mark the NFC champion Bears' fourth appearance. The New England Patriots have been included three times.
We all know what the Colts, Chargers, Bears and Patriots bring to a game. The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game since 1996. The Cowboys did make the playoffs last season. For the record: NBC broadcast the Cowboys' loss to the Seattle Seahawks on the first Saturday night of 2007. Al Michaels and John Madden could rival Brad Sham and Babe Laufenberg as the voices of the Cowboys.
So, why so much NFL-NBC love for the Cowboys?
That's simple. The Cowboys sell.
"The Cowboys probably engender more emotion than any other team in the National Football League," Michaels said via conference call this week. "Whether you love them or hate them, around the country, people pay a lot of attention to the Dallas Cowboys."
That's hardly "stop the presses" news. But why would the NFL favor NBC with the Cowboys' company? Every Cowboys game on NBC means one fewer Cowboys game on Fox or ESPN or CBS.
The Cowboys are scheduled to make a third NBC Sunday night appearance on Nov. 4, at Philadelphia. But the chance of any other Cowboys Sunday afternoon game during the second half of the season going prime time under the NBC "flex" option is remote. Fox is unlikely is give up any of its Cowboys games, starting with the Nov. 11 appearance at the Giants.
The NFL has a vested interest in the success of Sunday Night Football . It's the new game on the network block. The Sunday afternoon AFC and NFC packages are established money-making machines for the league. ESPN already pays more than the other network partners for its Monday Night Football package.
The NFL wants to stoke the Sunday night ratings to improve value for the next TV contract. NBC is paying the NFL a relatively paltry $600 million a season. That's the cheapest of all the NFL packages. What if Sunday Night Football, sixth among all prime-time offerings in its debut season, climbs to the top?
And what better way to get there than with the Cowboys at the head of the bandwagon?
"The Dallas Cowboys have more fans than any team in the country," Madden said. "When you go on the road and you go to the visiting team hotel, the Dallas Cowboys lead the league in hotel lobbies. You go to some teams, and there'll be like 10 people in the lobby. You go to the Dallas Cowboys, and there will be like 1,000. It's just that wherever the Cowboys go, they are stars."
NFL TV CONTRACTS: First and 10
1. NBC's Sunday Night Football has been the No. 1 show in prime time two consecutive weeks.
2. Yes, it beat the Emmys on Fox. Final score nationally: 9.8-8.4.
3. It wouldn't be a bad bet to wager that the Cowboys-Bears make it three straight No. 1s. Unless, of course, you mind taking prohibitive favorites.
4. Cowboys-Dolphins posted a 25.5 rating in D-FW on Sunday afternoon. That equals last season's lowest Cowboys rating, drawn for a noon kickoff against the Titans. The game against the Dolphins drew almost 200,000 fewer homes than tuned into the season opener against the Giants. That's a lot.
5. Relying on two running backs might work for the Cowboys, but it doesn't appear to be working out so great for Jerome Bettis at NBC. Tiki Barber has clearly eclipsed Bettis as the go-to back in the studio. Maybe Bettis should demand a trade. Fox sure could use someone who played or coached in the NFL during this millennium.
6. Speaking of running backs in the studio, ESPN's Emmitt Smith was certainly more impressive when he let his feet do his talking.
7. CBS' pregame show has beaten the Fox pregame show in the ratings two consecutive weeks. That's big news only because, entering this season, CBS had beaten Fox only five times since the pregames started going head to head in 1998.
8. The Cowboys are undefeated, and Fox's A-team has yet to call one of their games. That streak will end at three next week, when Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are scheduled to call the noon game against the Rams at Texas Stadium.
9. NBC, the Notre Dame network, is saddled with an awful team that could be 0-8 before home games against Navy and Air Force. But ask yourself this: Might a winless Notre Dame team attract more eyeballs for NBC than a mediocre one? It's the "watching a car wreck theory" of ratings.
10. Think about this the next time you scoff at Terrell Owens' on-field "look-at-me" antics. For the opening on Sunday night, NBC picked one Cowboy to join Heroes star Masi Oka. Yes, it will be T.O. joining M.O.
posted by The Gryphon at 10:13 PM
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