First Super Bowl since XLIII not to reach 100,000,000 viewers.
Lowest viewer total since XLII. Lowest rated since Super Bowl XXXIX.
41.1 rating, 98.2 million viewers for the latest Patriot rig-job.
But there is a very real part of this process.
For the first time, there is a verifiable link between the NFL's rigging of the sport and the fact that at least two cities decided to, to statistically significant effects, walk away from the game entirely.
Final rating in New Orleans was a 26.1 -- HALF last year's. And the lowest rating ever in that city.
Kansas City also had a bit of a boycott too -- ratings there were down double-digit percent, though not quite as pronounced as New Orleans.
No word on St. Louis or LA, though.
But this is significant -- for the first time, there is a verifiable link between the rigging of a major American sports championship game and a significant drop in the ratings of an aggrieved team.
In this case, two.
(Current rating numbers from Sports Media Watch. Long-term comparatives from a compiled Wikipedia chart.)
They probably figured if Rams win everyone would cry fix!
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