How Dolphins’ poor season is impacting local ratings. And Costas explanation, media notes
A six-pack of media notes on a Wednesday:
▪ The Dolphins’ 2-6 start has led to a slight, but not significant, erosion in the team’s local television viewership. South Florida’s Dolphins ratings remain among the worst for any single-team NFL market, which has been the case for many years.
Per Nielsen Research, Tua Tagovailoa’s first game back against Arizona on Oct. 27 drew 10.1 percent of Miami-Dade/Broward homes on WSVN Fox 7, up slightly from the 9.9 local rating for the Dolphins’ last game without him (against Indianapolis), also on Fox.
Last Sunday’s loss in Buffalo on CBS 4 drew a 10.8 rating — equal to 10.8 percent of homes in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market.
As perspective, last year’s Oct. 1 Dolphins loss in Buffalo had a 12.8 local TV rating and the Oct. 22 Sunday night loss in Philadelphia had a 13.4 rating. So about 36,000 Dade/Broward homes that watched the 2023 Dolphins-at-Bills game opted not to watch last Sunday’s Dolphins-at-Bills game.
Even when the Dolphins lost in Buffalo under Brian Flores in his final season in 2021, the game drew a 12.3 rating, higher than last Sunday’s game.
So ratings are down a bit, though they have been comparable at times during the past five years.
One rating point equals about 18,000 homes in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market.
Three factors largely explain why the Dolphins’ local TV ratings are much lower than many other teams: the large number of Spanish-language homes here; the large number of transplants from other markets and the fact the Dolphins haven’t won much of anything in 25 years.
▪ ESPN did not have the contractual right to flex out Monday’s Dolphins-Rams game, and NBC cannot flex the Dolphins-Packers game on Thanksgiving night.
But the Dolphins-at-Cleveland NBC Sunday night game on Dec. 29 is likely to be flexed out of prime time.
▪ A second Sunday night game was flexed this week, with Chargers-Bengals replacing Jets-Colts as the NBC game on Nov. 17. One upshot of that move is that the Chiefs-Bills game will be televised in the entire nation at 4:25 p.m. on CBS.
▪ Broadcasting legend Bob Costas this week explained his decision to retire from MLB play-by-play after calling games for parts of five decades —– a run that began in 1980, included the Marlins-Cleveland 1997 World Series and eventually led to his induction into the broadcaster’s wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Here’s what Costas told Tom Verducci on MLB Network about his 44 years calling games:
“Once I had the nuts and bolts down — and any good broadcaster has to be able to dot the i’s and cross the t’s — then you can bring to bear the influences. Not that you want to imitate anybody, but you can be influenced by them. I was influenced by Vin Scully. I was influenced by essayists like Jack Whitaker and Jim McKay. I was influenced by reading Roger Angell and Roger Kahn.
“I just knew that there was something about the game, a kind of romance, mythology, but beyond that, generational connections that those moments deserved something more than just the bare-bone facts. I think for a long time I could do that. Toward the end I felt I couldn’t do it quite as well. I thought it was time to wrap it up.”
Nobody in sportscasting history has used the language with more elegance and eloquence than Costas in three different roles — as a studio host, interviewer and play-by-play voice.
His MLB play-by-play was rich in historical context but also measured and sometimes subdued. That style, unique in today’s era of broadcasting, was criticized by some on social media in recent years, likely by those accustomed to hearing announcers who raise their voice more often and more forcefully than Costas was inclined to.
Costas did it his way until the end, speaking poetically about the game’s history and choosing never to become a “yeller.”
His final MLB call was Game 4 of the Yankees’ American League Championship series win in Kansas City last month.
“I felt a little catch in my throat [that night]; I knew I was wrapping it up,” he said. “I wanted the series to go five. I did want it to end at Yankee Stadium. That would have been more classic.”
At 72, Costas will continue to contribute to MLB Network programming in an emeritus analyst role, offering perspective on historical achievements.
▪ Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant, who has always been quick to respond to media or fan criticism, unloaded on ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith after Smith said he didn’t believe in a Suns team being led by Durant.
“Yeah, Stephen A., I don’t understand how people even listen to Stephen A.,” he told The Athletic. “I’ve been in the league for 18 years. I’ve never seen Stephen A. at a practice, or a film session, or a shootaround. I’ve never seen him anywhere but on TV talking [expletive] about players. … He’s a clown to me. He’s always been a clown. You can write that, too.”
Smith, who always feels compelled to respond when criticized, said, in response:
“I will not disrespect him the same way he disrespects me. It’s unfortunate that no matter how old he gets, his sensitivity seems to heighten with it and his maturity it doesn’t. But that’s something he has to deal with, not me... He’s a treasure to the game of basketball. I love seeing him play. And I sincerely wish that he doesn’t get swept again in the playoffs like he has two of the last three years.”
▪ Per Front Office Sports, Amazon has shown interest in former All Star Blake Griffin for its NBA coverage. Beginning next season, Amazon will carry games on Friday nights, plus on Thursday nights after NFL season. Amazon also gets the in-season tournament and an NBA game on Black Friday, following its NFL game.
▪ ESPN is partnering with “The Simpsons” on an animated alternate presentation of the Dec. 9 Bengals-Cowboys Monday night game.
The telecast, airing on ESPN+ and Disney+, will be the second in a “Funday Football” series that debuted last year with “Toy Story” themed presentation of a Jacksonville-Atlanta game in London....
ESPN won’t discipline former Eagles center Jason Kelce after he smashed a cellphone of a young male who was verbally harassing him and calling his brother, Travis, a homophobic slur, as Jason Kelce and the man walked outside Beaver Stadium before the Ohio State-Penn State game.
On ESPN’s Monday night pregame show, Kelce expressed regret for grabbing the man’s phone: “I’m not proud of it and in a heated moment, I chose to greet hate with hate, and I just don’t think that that’s a productive thing. I really don’t.”
