Packers-Bears TV ratings top every non-NFL sports broadcast in 2019

Alexis Mansanarez

Packers-Bears TV ratings top every non-NFL sports broadcast in 2019 image

People really missed football.

Despite the underachieving NFL game itself opening night, fans watched in record numbers.

The ratings for Thursday night’s game, which saw the Packers beat the Bears 10-3, were the best in three years for a season opener, Sports Media Watch reported.

The game, which drew a 15.3 rating for NBC reflected a 14 percent improvement from last season — a weather-delayed matchup between the Eagles and Falcons — and a 5 percent rise from the 2017 opener between the Chiefs and Patriots.

In fact, Thursday's low-scoring affair did numbers similar to 2016's season-opening Broncos-Panthers game. That Super Bowl rematch drew a 16.5.

Sports Media Watch also noted:

"Overnights also increased 7% over last year’s Week 1 Bears-Packers game on NBC, which aired in the usual Sunday Night Football window (14.3).

"The 15.3 exceeds every non-NFL sporting event this year. January’s Clemson-Alabama College Football National Championship had a 14.6.

"Milwaukee led all markets for the Packers’ win with a 48.1 rating, followed by Chicago at a 35.3. Minneapolis-St. Paul was the top neutral market at a 23.9, with New Orleans (23.1) and Kansas City (21.9) rounding out the top five."

Some of the viewers had an even bigger stake in the game.

SportsBusiness Journal reported that markets with legalized sports betting were "up big" with Pittsburgh coming in at plus-23 percent and Providence, Rhode Island, up plus-36.

Both areas have statewide mobile betting, the report noted.

 

Alexis Mansanarez