All-Star ratings up 13 percent

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Posted: Tuesday July 14, 1998 01:35 PM

It's estimated that 38 million people tuned in to watch some portion of the 1998 All-Star Game at Coors Field (AP)

NEW YORK (CNN/SI) - The highest-scoring All-Star Game in baseball history turned into a ratings bonanza for NBC - at least compared to last year's contest.

Tuesday night's game at the hitters' haven of Coors Field produced a 13.3 rating/25 share for NBC, 13 percent higher than the 11.8/21 in 1997. It was the game's highest rating since 1995, when ABC got a 13.9/25.

Each ratings point represents 980,000 homes. The share represents the percentage of televisions in use, tuned to a particular show.

NBC said an estimated 38 million people watched at least part of the game, the highest since 42 million watched the 1994 contest -- one month before the players went on strike.

The longest nine-inning All-Star Game in history -- 3 hours, 38 minutes -- hurt the ratings. The audience peaked from 9:30-10 p.m. EDT with a 14.9 rating and stayed above 14.5 until 11 p.m. The rating then dropped to 13.0 from 11-11:30 p.m., 11.4 from 11:30-midnight and 10.6 for the final 21 minutes.

The game was particularly popular in Cleveland (31.0), Denver (26.6), Atlanta (21.2), Seattle (20.7) and San Diego (20.2).

Ratings for other major cities included New York (14.8), Boston (13.7), Los Angeles (12.8), Chicago (10.6), Washington (10.5) and Salt Lake City (9.1).

ESPN's live coverage of the Home Run Derby on Monday night was tied for the network's second-highest-rated non-NFL show in history. ESPN got a 7.7, 35 percent higher than last year's taped show, which got a 5.7. For ESPN, each ratings point represents 740,000 homes.

ESPN's highest non-NFL rating came in 1985, when the cable network got an 8.0 for Georgetown-St. John's basketball. The rating was tied with the rating for Miami-Florida State football game in 1994.

Baseball's ratings revival has been evident throughout the season. Fox's Saturday afternoon ratings are up 6 percent, ESPN is up 7 percent on Sunday nights and even on Wednesdays, Fox Sports Net is up 14 percent on Thursday's and FX is up 25 percent.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.