The high-scoring Monday Night Football affair between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints was significantly overshadowed by the presidential debate.
According to Sports Media Watch, the Falcons’ 45-32 victory over the Saints received a paltry 5.7 overnight rating — which is “likely the lowest in the history of Monday Night Football.”
“The Week 3 Falcons/Saints Monday Night Football game earned a 5.7 overnight rating, down 36% from Chiefs/Packers last year (8.9), down 38% from Bears/Jets in 2014 (9.2) and the lowest for any NFL telecast through the first three weeks of the season. Ratings peaked at a 6.9 from 8:45-9 PM ET, the final quarter-hour before the debate started.”
Even some of the most devoted NFL fans tuned into the debate, rather than watch the game on Monday night. And on that note, many NFL insiders were in the same boat.
What game? https://t.co/S3t4YgFS40
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) September 27, 2016
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton owned the airwaves, and they put on quite the entertaining show.
Whether you liked what they had to say or not, the Democratic and Republican nominees for President of the United States also owned social media, which had a field day with the things they said and did.
https://twitter.com/SheHatesJacoby/status/780735940075462656
https://twitter.com/Defeat_GOP/status/780615390749609984
As fun as it is watching two NFL teams put up a combined 77 points, Monday Night Football just couldn’t compete with the debate, which compiled a 46.2 rating across nine broadcast and cable networks, per the report.