Nationals narrowly out-rate test patterns on MASN
Check out these mind-boggling TV ratings for Nationals baseball in Washington - a previous two-time loser of MLB franchises - from long-time WatchDog reader John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal:
Nationals ratings on MASN, which have been the lowest in baseball by far all season, pulled one of its lowest figures of the season last Thursday, when the team's game against the Braves ran opposite the Redskins' season opener on NBC. The September 4 Nationals game pulled a 0.26 rating/6,000 households. By comparison, the Redskins-Giants game on NBC pulled a 26 rating/600,000 HHs in the DC market.
The Nationals' lowest rating of the season occurred a few weeks earlier, when its August 16 game with the Rockies ran opposite Michael Phelps' race for his eighth gold medal. The Nationals game on WDCA-MYT pulled a 0.07 rating/1,600 HHs, and a source said that the last half hour of the game was below measurable ratings standards. By comparison, NBC's coverage of the Phelps race scored a 20.7 rating with 477,000 HHs in the market. Season-to-date, Nationals telecasts are averaging a 0.35 with 8,000 HHs.
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Comments (4)
With ratings like that the Nats should have stayed in Montreal.
Or even in San Juan.
Washington. First in war, first in peace, last in the Nielsens.
PS Nice, rare pix of former Senators manager and Mets legend Gil Hodges.
Jeff Loria and Bud Selig are to blame for the entire handling of the Montreal situation. Could baseball have survived post-strike any longer at Olympic Stadium? Maybe not but a carpet-bagging owner and a poseur commissioner running that ship let that franchise bleed out to the bitter end. Oh and those Florida expansions are an absolute prize!
Portland (Ore.), the largest market in the U.S. without a MLB team and only one other professional franchise, was ready to welcome the Expos with open arms and wallets. But Loria and Uncle Bud used them as a pawn to drive up D.C.'s bid. You get what you deserve, greedy dirtbags.
They are lucky that there are a lot of Mets fans in DC/Baltimore area that are required to watch their excuse for a baseball telecast 18 times a year. Otherwise, their overall numbers would be even lower.