Many Chicago Viewers Make Blackhawks a Part of Their Championship Sunday

While most of the city was preparing for a disappointing NFC Championship Game, quite a few of them were getting over a disappointing regular season hockey game in Chicago earlier that day.

Despite there being tons of pre-game hooplah for the Bears-Packers title game happening at 2PM CT, and having the Flyers-Blackhawks hockey game at a strange 11:30 AM CT start, Chicago was the #1 market for the NHL on NBC this Sunday, drawing a solid 4.9/11.

Compared to recent Blackhawks broadcasts on NBC in the market, this is fairly within range. In 2010, a March 7th telecast against Detroit drew a 5.3, while a March 14th game in that same year against Washington drew a 4.4. The game drew a 3.6/7 in road market Philadelphia, making it the 2nd highest-rated market for the game.

Obviously, hockey was nowhere near the draw that football produced yesterday, as the Sunday FOX telecast of Bears-Packers drew an astronomical 36.6/58 in Chicago, the nation’s #3 TV market. Regardless, it was good news that hockey was on many local fans’ minds on this important football Sunday.

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