Best baseball town in America?
Well, at least according to the television ratings, St. Louis isn’t even No. 1 in its own state.
According to figures compiled by Nielsen, which measures viewership, Kansas City is rocking St. Louis in ratings for postseason games. That’s when it comes to recent appearances by the home-town team in the league championship round and World Series.
Last year, the Royals were in the Series for the first time since they beat the Cardinals for the 1985 title. And the rating in Kansas City averaged a whopping 50.2 for their loss in seven games to San Francisco. (That means 50.2 percent of homes in the market with a TV tuned in.)
In 2013, the last time the Cards were in the Series, the St. Louis rating was 40.6. The Redbirds lost in six games to Boston that year, with the Red Sox building a big early lead in the final contest and cruising to victory which pulled the rating for that game down to 37.9.
That’s logical. But what is more telling is the time before that when they were in the Series — in 2011, capping their miracle run to the championship after being all but dead in late August. That series, the dramatic seven-game affair in which they had their miraculous comeback to win Game 6, drew a 47.2 rating locally.
And the St. Louis rating then for Game 7 — a winner — was 52.7. The Royals drew a 58.7 number in KC for their Game 7 — a loser — last year.
In the ongoing American League championship series, the rating in Kansas City is 30.5 — and that is with back-to-back weekday afternoon games. The ALCS rating there last year was 31.9. The Cardinals’ last two trips to the National League title series (2014 and 2013) drew ratings in St. Louis of 23.5 and 28.9.
All this comes on the heels of Kansas City leading all U.S. teams this season in ratings for the teams’ local telecasts, with a rating of 12.3. St. Louis was second, at 10.0.
The reason for all of this probably is the bandwagon effect. Postseason baseball is a novelty in KC but has been a way of life in St. Louis. Before last season, the Royals hadn’t been to the playoffs in 29 years, whereas the Cardinals’ appearance this year was their 14th in that span.
And the ratings trend doesn’t translate to the turnstiles. Attendance the last two seasons in St. Louis has been 3.5 million. In Kansas City, it was 1.9 million in 2014 and 2.7 million this year.
And Missouri’s biggest market did do better in the TV ratings than its No. 2 city in the recently completed first round of the playoffs. The St. Louis rating was 25.4, the number in KC was 23.1. But the Cards were playing their biggest rival, the Cubs, for the first time in the postseason. The Royals had a matchup with the Astros, who were completing just their third season in the American League.
A more apt comparison: Last year, for the Cards’ opening-round matchup with the Dodgers, the St. Louis rating was 19.5. The year before, against Pittsburgh, it was 16.4.
To read the rest of this article visit STL Today where it was originally published
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
