Titans-Broncos One of Cable's Most-Watched Games of 2020
The Tennessee Titans defeated the Denver Broncos on Monday night by a slim 16-14 margin.
In the media world, ESPN earned itself a pretty big win.
While Monday Night Football’s first game, the Pittsburgh Steelers versus New York Giants, delivered cable television’s third-highest audience for a sporting event in 2020, the Titans-Broncos affair was not far behind.
According to ESPN Press Room, the game drew an audience of 7,697,000, placing it among the top six most-viewed sporting events since January.
Denver was the top market with a 26.2 local rating; Nashville, of course, was next with 17.7 local rating. Memphis tied with Sacramento, California, for the No. 9 market with a 6.8 rating. The totals include local networks and ESPN, according to the press release.
The audiences for both Monday Night Football contests trail ESPN’s presentation of the CFP National Championship on January 13 and the Rose Bowl Game on New Year’s Day, in addition to the State of the Union Address on February 4 (Fox News), according to the press release.
The high viewerships are obvious byproducts of fan-less stadiums.
While Denver had some fans scattered across the lower bowl of Empower Field at Mile High, there certainly weren’t enough of them to make a difference.
“I think that it was very eerie, unusual, difficult,” coach Mike Vrabel said on Thursday, “I think for that opening night Monday night game to go out there and not have that added element of the fans.”
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill agreed.
“It's different. It's a weird situation, there's no sugarcoating it,” he said on Wednesday “It's a weird atmosphere just being out there with no fans. Definitely no energy coming from the stadium, you have to bring our own energy on the sidelines, within the huddle.”
The wait for fans will not last much longer, though.
While the Titans will play the Jacksonville Jaguars in front of an empty Nissan Stadium this Sunday, Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced Thursday that a limited number of spectators will be allowed at Titans home games beginning Oct. 4 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Attendance for the Steelers game will be limited to roughly 7,000 people (10 percent capacity). Seating will be limited to the lower bowl and club levels, and suites will operate at a limited capacity.
The Titans plan to increase stadium capacity to 12.5 percent for the Oct. 11 game against the Buffalo Bills and to 15 percent against the Houston Texans on Oct. 18.
The Titans’ final four home games -- two in November and two in December -- could be played in front of roughly 14,500 fans (21 percent of capacity).
Networks will continue to reap the benefits for now, though, because that is the only way most fans can watch their teams.
