All-Star Game gets worst ratings ever

Must-see TV? All-Star Game television ratings and shares Year Network Rating Share 2002 FOX 9.5 17 2001 FOX 11.0 19 2000 NBC 10.1 18 1999 FOX 12.0 22 1998 NBC 13.3 25 1997 FOX 11.8 21 1996 NBC 13.2 23 1995 ABC 13.9 25 1994 NBC 15.7 28 1993 CBS 15.6 28 1992 CBS 14.9 27 1991 CBS 17.4 32 1990 CBS 16.2 33 1989 NBC 18.2 33 1988 ABC 20.4 33 1987 NBC 18.2 37 1986 ABC 20.3 35 1985 NBC 20.5 36 1984 ABC 20.1 35 1983 NBC 21.5 39 1982 ABC 25.0 44 1981 NBC 20.1 36 1980 ABC 26.8 46 1979 NBC 24.4 45 1978 ABC 26.1 47 1977 NBC 24.5 45 1976 ABC 27.1 53 1975 NBC 21.5 41 1974 NBC 23.4 44 1973 NBC 23.8 45 1972 NBC 22.9 43 1971 NBC 27.0 50 1970 NBC 28.5 54 1969 NBC 15.1 42 1968 NBC 25.8 49 1967 NBC 25.6 50

NEW YORK (AP) -- There wasn't a winner in the All-Star Game but there was a loser: the sport's television rating.

Tuesday night's controversial 7-7, 11-inning tie in Milwaukee set a record for baseball's lowest-rated All-Star Game in prime time, getting a 9.5 rating and 17 share, Nielsen Media Research said Wednesday.

The rating was down 14 percent from the 11.0 for the American League's 4-1 victory last year in Seattle. The previous low was a 10.1 for the AL's 6-3 win two years ago in Atlanta.

Like network ratings in general, the All-Star Game rating has steadily declined. From a peak of 28.5 in 1970, dropped below 20 for the first time in 1987. The game drew a 15.7 rating in 1994, then dropped to 13.9 the following year after a strike wiped out the World Series for the first time in 90 years.

Tuesday night's game was seen by an average of 10,023,000 households, less than half the 20.38 million that tuned in 20 years earlier.

The rating is the percentage of television households in the United States watching a broadcast, and each point represents 1,055,000 homes. The share is the percentage watching a program among those households with televisions on at the time.

Because of a lengthy pregame show, the game started later than in recent years, after 9 p.m. EDT. Commissioner Bud Selig stopped it at 12:35 a.m., when the teams ran out of pitchers.

Some in the sellout crowd of 41,871 threw bottles on the field, booed and chanted "Let them play!" and "Bud must go!"

ESPN's telecast of the Home Run Derby on Monday night drew a 6.11 rating -- the second-highest rated show this year on the network. The competition, won by the New York Yankees' Jason Giambi, was up 18 percent from last year's event, which drew a 5.19.

 

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