Nielsen says 103.4 million watched
New York — An estimated 103.4 million people watched the Super Bowl on NBC, a 7 percent drop from last year that indicates that television's biggest event may have peaked in popularity.
The Nielsen company said it's the smallest Super Bowl audience on television since 2009 despite the underdog Philadelphia Eagles beating the New England Patriots in a thrilling game that was close from start to finish.
Last year's Patriots-Falcons game reached 111.3 million viewers. The all-time Super Bowl record — and record for any television event in the United States — was the 114.4 million who watched the Patriots against the Seahawks in 2015.
The NFL's viewership has been down this year, with experts citing factors like increased injuries, some confusing rules changes and anger at players protesting police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem.
Similarly, fewer people have cable than they did a few years ago, with streaming onto hand-held devices becoming more popular.
The dip was also telegraphed by a poll conducted last week by Seton Hall University, which found that 54 percent of Americans were preparing to watch the game. That's down from the 68 percent that said the same thing two years ago, according to the poll, which wasn't done in 2017. The poll has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.
Despite that prediction, the poll's director said he thought the game's quality would lift the numbers beyond what was actually seen.
"If you turned the game on at any time to say, 'I wonder what's going on,' or a friend texted you to say you should watch this, you're going to watch and get hooked," said Rick Gentile, director of the poll, also sponsored by the Sharkey Institute.
NBC said that if you add in people who followed the game online, viewership increased to 106 million.
Marcus Thames promoted to Yankees hitting coach
Marcus Thames was promoted to hitting coach by the New York Yankees, replacing Alan Cockrell on the staff of new manager Aaron Boone. Thames played for the Norwich Navigators in 2001 and had a standout season, batting .321 with 31 homers and 97 RBI. He spent the past two seasons as assistant coach under Cockrell, who served as assistant to Jeff Pentland in 2015 and replaced him after that season. P.J. Pilittere will be Thames' assist after serving as hitting coach at Double-A Trenton in 2016 and Triple-A Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre last year, the Yankees said Monday. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild and bullpen coach Mike Harvey remain from manager Joe Girardi's staff. Boone said in December that Josh Bard is replacing Rob Thomson as bench coach, Phil Nevin takes over from Joe Espada as third base coach and Reggie Willits follows Tony Pena as first base coach, Willits also will be an outfield instructor, Carlos Mendoza will be quality control coach, Jason Brown will be catching coach, and Radley Haddad will be coaching assistant and bullpen instructor. Bruce Weber remains coaching assistant/instant replay coordinator. Cockrell and Pena left the organization. Thomson was hired as Philadelphia's bench coach and Espada as Houston's third base coach.
Series MVP Springer, Astros reach $24 million, 2-year deal
World Series MVP George Springer and the Houston Astros avoided salary arbitration by agreeing Monday to a $24 million, two-year contract. Springer gets $12 million annually under the deal and will be eligible for arbitration again after the 2019 season. The hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday. He asked for a raise from $4,075,000 to $10.5 million and was offered $8.5 million. His case was bolstered when Mookie Betts defeated Boston in the first hearing last week and was awarded $10.5 million rather than the team's $7.5 million offer. Springer tied the World Series record with five runs homers, homering in each of the final four games, as Houston won its first title. Springer batted .379 (11 for 29) with five walks in the seven games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He set career bests during the season with a .283 average, 34 home runs and 85 RBIs.