America’s Watching: Cowboys Top-10 Rank for ‘Must-See TV’
Yogi Berra once said "No one goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
The late New York Yankees catcher and part-time philosopher could've just as easily been talking about Dallas Cowboys viewership: for all the complaints the NFL has faced for constantly placing Dallas in prime time slots, statistical justification has come in the form of Sports Media Watch's list of most-watched sporting events midway through the 2023 calendar year.
Dallas headlines the NFL stranglehold on the national imagination, appearing twice among the top 10 events. At a rating of 21.8 and 45.65 million viewers, Dallas' Divisional round exit in San Francisco placed fourth behind only the Super Bowl and the respective conference title games. The Cowboys' Wild Card win missed out on being the top first-rounder (that honor going to the New York Giants' upset win in Minnesota) but their triumph in Tampa (16.6/31.2 million) was eighth.
The NFL took each of the first 21 spots on the list, a streak interrupted by another North Texas gridiron group: the multi-network broadcast of the College Football Playoff final between TCU and Georgia was 22nd while the first non-football event was the NCAA Men's Basketball championship game, as Connecticut's win over San Diego State was 23rd.
While there's no denying the Cowboys' national appeal, their biggest competition for American leisure time may come within their own division: buoyed by their run to Super Bowl LVII, the Philadelphia Eagles took two of the top three spots, their Division victory over the Giants rounding out the top 10. The Kansas City Chiefs also lived up to their championship reputation, getting three in the top seven (their Divisional win over Jacksonville likewise got a spot at No. 7 behind the AFC title game in the runner-up slot).
Others who appeared on the list twice included the Giants, Buffalo Bills, and Cincinnati Bengals.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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