Kentucky Derby, NFL Draft, get good TV ratings

[MU82]

From The Athletic:

NBC Sports on Tuesday said its Kentucky Derby telecast averaged 14.5 million viewers, with a peak of 15.7 million between 6:45-7 p.m. when the Bob Baffert-trained Medina Spirit wrapped up his victory — the first leg of a potential Triple Crown that can boost ratings for the upcoming Preakness (May 15) and the Belmont Stakes (June 5).

The 14.5 million includes about 100,000-plus who viewed via streaming. The data comes from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, per NBC.

Last year's derby was run Sept. 5 rather than its normal first-Saturday-in-May calendar spot, and that pandemic-fueled reschedule siphoned off TV audience: A record-low 9.3 million watched Authentic's victory.

From 2011-19, the derby averaged 15.6 million TV viewers, so this year was much closer to the race's typical audience. A return to a normal race date in 2021 likely helped restore viewership.

The NFL Draft's first round on Thursday averaged 12.52 million viewers combined across ESPN (6.48 million), ABC (4.19 million), and the NFL Network (1.85 million), according to a data breakdown via the Hollywood Reporter. The 12.52 million is second only to last year's draft-record 15.26 million for the first round, a number that likely was a function of the pandemic's initial lockdown era when TV viewing increased for some over a short time.

The three days of draft coverage — Thursday is the first round, with two rounds on Friday and the final four rounds on Saturday — averaged 6.08 million viewers combined, per Sports Business Daily's John Ourand, who noted that the three-day average was down 27 percent from 2020's record high of 8.4 million but down just 2 percent from 2019. The NFL on Tuesday said the 2021 draft overall was the third most-watched after 2019-20.

"It looks like both the draft and the derby have enough sports-entertainment firepower to plow back to trend," said Patrick Crakes, a broadcast industry consultant and former Fox Sports executive. "The key will be how the rest of the sports-viewing universe develops — in particular TV usage — as we proceed through summer towards fall and the return of football. While these two big crossover live events did well, lots of other programming is still off-trend."

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Considering most of the NBA and MLB are not available to any cord cutters and Dish subscribers, I would think that overall sports viewing will still be down.

Plus, the movement to peacock, paramount, etc will reduce eyeballs.

[Herman Cain]

No of this surprises me.

I think the Kentucky Derby ratings were a direct function of things opening up with respect to Covid. Many people use the Kentucky Derby as a vehicle to throw a party. Suburban Women in particular love enjoying those Mint Juleps and wearing the hats.

A lot of casual observer's paid attention to the Tom Brady Super Bowl saga, because of his age and the scenario of driving through the playoff and winning without Belichick. I think momentum translated into enhanced interest in  free agency and then fans seeing who their favorite teams drafted. The NFL did a good job marketing themselves ,never let Baseball or Basketball gain traction and had a big share of the daily talking head sports opinion shows.

[wadesworld]

'Roids!

[Mutaman]

The whole thing with Baffert doesn't make any sense.  The incredibly small amount of the drug found in Medina Spirit  would not particularly improve the horse's performance.  And this particular drug is not a performance enhancer. The risk/reward equation doesn't make any sense since the downside - disqualification in the Kentucky Derby- is so huge.
Also Baffert knows there is a test for this drug and he's had positives for it before. Baffert may very well be using something -his horses improve drastically for big races in ways that cannot be explained. But he isn't stupid.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

This is pretty baffling to me.  It some ways it doesn't make sense?  What ever happened will come out.

[MU82]

I thought I noticed that Medina Spirit's head looked large and he had acne on his back.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

If the horse is DQ'd, what happens to all of the gambling payouts?

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

If the horse is DQ'd, what happens to all of the gambling payouts?

I heard reported this morning that there will be no changes on payouts.  Then they repeated the line to emphasize, "Once again, no change in payouts."

I cashed my winning Medina pick on Saturday and I'm not giving back now.

[jsglow]

I thought I noticed that Medina Spirit's head looked large and he had acne on his back.

That's actually really funny 82. 

[JWags85]

I heard reported this morning that there will be no changes on payouts.  Then they repeated the line to emphasize, "Once again, no change in payouts."

I cashed my winning Medina pick on Saturday and I'm not giving back now.

Because its impossible. 

"Hey everyone who cashed a winning ticket, can you please bring your cash back here?"

[MU82]

Because its impossible. 

"Hey everyone who cashed a winning ticket, can you please bring your cash back here?"

If you happened to save your winning ticket on the horse that placed, shouldn't you get paid for it now? If they said no, might you have a legal case?

[Pakuni]

If you happened to save your winning ticket on the horse that placed, shouldn't you get paid for it now? If they said no, might you have a legal case?

I imagine there's some legal disclaimer that states that all bets are settled and final at some point, and that point is long past.
Regardless, Medina Spirit ("Junky" that he us) remains the official winner at this point.

[Lennys Tap]

If you happened to save your winning ticket on the horse that placed, shouldn't you get paid for it now? If they said no, might you have a legal case?

And do the people who bet Medina Spirit get sued by the track?

Maybe you're on to something, Mike. I'm sure everyone can agree there are nowhere near enough specious lawsuits in the USA.

[MU82]

I imagine there's some legal disclaimer that states that all bets are settled and final at some point, and that point is long past.
Regardless, Medina Spirit ("Junky" that he us) remains the official winner at this point.

You're no doubt right.

And do the people who bet Medina Spirit get sued by the track?

Maybe you're on to something, Mike. I'm sure everyone can agree there are nowhere near enough specious lawsuits in the USA.

If you bet $100K on Mandaloun, would you think such a lawsuit would be "specious"? Who gets to define "specious" ... besides you, Tony?

[Mutaman]

Pretty basic that once a race is declared official (which happens a few minutes after the race) , all bets are final and non refundable no matter what subsequent action the racing authorities take. Suspect this is a carved in stone regulation in all jurisdictions and I believe it is printed on most betting tickets.
Any legal action by those who are still holding on to their win tix on Mandaloun (or any other number of tickets affected by Medina's dq) would never survive a motion to dismiss.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

No different than UK or UL vacating their natty(s), hey?

Don't win the bet placed on the runner up.

[🏀]

And Bob admits he juiced the horse after all.

The Trump defense fails again.

[MU82]

And Bob admits he juiced the horse after all.

The Trump defense fails again.

Cheater.

At least he was caught before he could go for the Triple Crown.

Related:

To all those who gave legal opinions, I appreciate it.

[Jockey]

The best part was that Baffert ran crying to Fox News that it all Cancel Culture.

[Mutaman]

Preakness: pace makes the race.

[MU82]

Good.

[Heisenberg]

Not too long ago the second most-watched show of the year was the Oscars, after the Superbowl.

Now the Oscars ratings have crashed so hard and so fast that both the Kentucky Derby and the NFL draft had higher TV ratings in the two weeks after the Oscar's telecast.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/oscar-ratings-lowest-ever-1234960615/

The public would rather watch doped-up horses run in a circle than lectures from our betters in Hollywood.

[The Sultan]

Thanks Heisey for posting a story from <checks calendar> three weeks ago.

[Uncle Rico]

Not too long ago the second most-watched show of the year was the Oscars, after the Superbowl.

Now the Oscars ratings have crashed so hard and so fast that both the Kentucky Derby and the NFL draft had higher TV ratings in the two weeks after the Oscar's telecast.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/oscar-ratings-lowest-ever-1234960615/

The public would rather watch doped-up horses run in a circle than lectures from our betters in Hollywood.

I wouldn't