Random TV stat
It was a big discussion at the end of the season about how Fox Sports Detroit’s best night ever (for a Tigers broadcast) was a Sept 30 victory over Minnesota, with a rating of 15.6 (peaking at 19.6). That’s fantastic. What’s more surprising is this article from Mike O’Hara that the lowly Detroit Lions impressively out-drew the Tigers on the Tiger’s make or break last game of the regular season.
There are a lot of reasons to dissect this one…
- Are local sports fans bigger Lions fans and therefore, given a choice, they would rather watch football?
- Was Verlander’s dominant performance enough reason for fans to switch over early?
- Is the season too long and some fans just felt like the Tigers blew it?
- Maybe some persons were upset at the Miguel Cabrera snafu?
- Some Tiger fans are big Chicago Bears fans?
With everything that was made of the 15.6 rating, the fact that the Lions outdrew the Tigers on such an important day blows my mind. I will say that I’ve heard and read in the national media (during the last head coach search, concluding with the Jim Schwartz hire) that Detroit is in fact a football town… the idea that whatever football coach could turn around the Lions would be king. I think this theory might have some legs.