Good morning. This is Leadoff, the early buzz in Atlanta sports.
Falcons Fever is contagious and spreading fast.
Almost 250,000 more households in the Atlanta TV market watched the Falcons beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday than watched the team’s previous playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks.
The NFC championship game drew a 45.0 rating here, meaning 45 percent of the homes in the Atlanta TV market tuned in on average.
That translated to an audience of about 1.09 million homes – up from about 845,000 homes for the Jan. 14 win over the Seahawks. (According to Nielsen, there are about 2.41 million TV homes in the Atlanta market.)
The other TV markets with teams participating in the conference championship games posted even higher ratings. The NFC title game drew a 48.6 rating in the Milwaukee market, while the Patriots’ prime-time win over the Steelers in the AFC title game drew a 55.8 rating in Pittsburgh and 51.6 in Boston.
In another Nielsen measure, the Falcons’ win over the Packers posted a 68.2 “share” in the Atlanta market, meaning 68.2 percent of the market’s homes with TVs in use at the time were tuned to the game.
Nationally, in the 56 metered markets, the NFC championship game posted a 27.4 rating and the AFC title game a 27.6 rating. National ratings of both undoubtedly were hurt by the one-sided nature of the games.
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The Braves officially got a new corporate teammate Monday, when Liberty Media completed its purchase of the Formula One auto-racing series.
The $4.4 billion deal was about 10 times as expensive as Liberty’s 2007 acquisition of the Braves for $450 million.
Liberty’s baseball team and its auto-racing empire will be run completely separately, one based here and the other in London.
Liberty named long-time media and sports executive Chase Carey to take over as CEO of Formula One, replacing Bernie Eccelstone, who had led the business for four decades. Ecclestone was named F1’s chairman emeritus.
In addition to the Braves and Formula One, Colorado-based Liberty Media — controlled by billionaire cable TV pioneer John Malone — owns stakes in a wide swath of businesses, including satellite radio provider SiriusXM and entertainment company Live Nation.
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The Hawks, who haven't won an NBA championship in their 48 completed seasons in Atlanta, are pulling hard for the Falcons to win their first NFL championship in the franchise's 51st season.
Click here for Chris Vivlamore's story.
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Further reading:
Falcons say PSL sales surpass 40,000
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