No surprise: Heat drubs Panthers in head-to-head ratings
On Wednesday, we found out what happens when the Heat and Panthers play a playoff game at the same time, and it was hardly a surprise: Far more South Florida viewers tuned in the Heat.
Tuesday night’s Game 1 of the Heat-Celtics Eastern finals — which started at 8:45 p.m. (compared to 7 p.m. for the Panthers) — drew an 8.2 local rating on ESPN, meaning 8.2 percent of homes with TV sets in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market were tuned in to the Heat game.
That compared to a 2.1 local rating on TNT for Game 1 of the PanthersLightning second-round series, which is still well above what Panthers games typically generate.
Heat-Celtics drew a greater percentage of TV homes (14 percent) in Boston than Miami (8.2). One ratings point in Miami-Fort Lauderdale equals 16,934 TV households.
Nationally, Game 1 of Heat-Celtics drew 6.1 million viewers on ESPN, making it the mostwatched East finals Game 1 since 2018. Nationally, Game 1 of PanthersLightning on TNT averaged 1.3 million viewers.
FYI: Bally Sports Sun (Heat) and Bally Sports Florida (Panthers) are carrying extensive postgame shows, with press conferences and more.
ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins on Jimmy Butler: “He becomes a topfive player in the NBA as soon as the postseason starts.”
ESPN’s Jalen Rose: “Jimmy Butler is a superstar in today’s NBA.
There were a lot of people who felt he should join a team or team up with somebody. When he chose to go to Miami that was head scratching for a lot of people. He chose his own path. He led them to the Finals; he’s leading them again right now.”
Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Patrick Beverley, who’s moonlighting for ESPN during these playoffs, said he still picks Boston if the Celtics get healthy, but:
“You’ve got to give credit to what [Butler] does to his body, his conditioning. You feel he’s in control at all times. He’s not flashy, doesn’t have the big name of other superstars. The boy comes to work, disciplined, drinks his coffee and stays out of the way. I always like forcing Jimmy left, stand down on pump fakes. [For Boston], you’ve got to send a double, make other people beat you.”
ESPN analyst Vince Carter: Butler “doesn’t get the respect he deserves, as well as the Miami Heat.”
BUCK, AIKMAN MOVE
When Joe Buck and Troy Aikman signed off after calling the Rams-49ers NFC Championship Game in January, there was always the possibility Aikman could leave as a free agent.
But Buck, the longtime voice of Fox Sports, leaving too? “Didn’t see it coming,” Buck said.
“And, gosh, I’m glad it did.”
The NFL has been full of relocation surprises this offseason, with Tyreek Hill landing in Miami, Davante Adams in Las Vegas and Russell Wilson in Denver.
But the move of Buck and Aikman — from Fox to ESPN to do “Monday Night Football” — ranks high on any list.
“It’s an historic property. To be a part of it, is really special for me,” Aikman said Monday during an ESPN conference call with both men on the day both set foot on ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., campus for the first time.
When Aikman decided to join ESPN, Buck asked Fox for permission to leave with a year left on his contract.
Fox granted it, appreciative of his 27 years of service, which included eight Sports Emmy Awards, and aware that his wife, Michelle Beisner, works at ESPN.
“They understood how much I wanted to come to ESPN, how it was such a good fit in my life,” Buck said. “Having a wife who has worked here eight years and having two little boys at home. Simplifying and paring things down in my life made a lot of sense.”
And so Buck and Aikman — paired together for 20 years on Fox — will remain partners on “Monday Night Football,” at least for the next five years and for a total reported salary of $155 million over the length of the deal.
This season, they will match Pat Summerall and John Madden’s record for the longest partnership by network NFL announcers.
“To get to do ‘Monday Night Football,’ get to do it with Troy and Lisa Salters, it’s going to be an absolute blast,” said
Buck, whose legendary father Jack called “Monday Night Football” for CBS Radio. “I can’t tell you how many times I went into a ‘Monday
Night Football’ radio booth with [my father] and Hank Stram and watched some of the greats to ever broadcast on television go into the ‘Monday Night Football’ booth never even thinking I could end up there.
“I’ve never been this excited.”
ESPN will pay tens of millions in salary for Aikman (reportedly earning $18 million a year) and Buck ($15 million a year) and 10 alternate ESPN2 telecasts handled by Peyton and Eli Manning, who reportedly make Aikman money, combined, though that incorporates other work that the brothers do for the company.
But network leadership believes this will add to the cachet of MNF, which long ago was surpassed by NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” as the signature prime-time package.
MNF, in its heyday, had iconic announcers — Howard Cosell, John Madden, Frank Gifford, Al Michaels and Don Meredith. Until now, ESPN has lacked that since taking over the package.
“When you have the opportunity to bring in the iconic, longest-running NFL broadcasting duo, you take it,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro
said.
Aikman rejected a Fox contract offer before the 2021 season and he said that Fox never made another offer, presumably because they weren’t close on financial terms. At ESPN, Aikman’s reported $18 million annual salary will match what CBS gave Tony Romo.
Since losing Aikman, Fox reached an agreement with Tom Brady to become its lead analyst after Brady retires from playing. Until that happens, former Miami Hurricanes and NFL tight end Greg Olsen could fill that lead analyst role — alongside new Fox lead playby-play voice Kevin Burkhardt.
Buck and Aikman have called six Super Bowls together, but they will need to wait until 2027 before ABC and ESPN get one.
Aikman said the toughest call he had to make about leaving Fox was to Fox sideline reporter Erin Andrews, who is “like a sister” to Buck and Aikman.