Sunday Night Football’ featuring Newtown team watched by 18M+
STAMFORD — NBC Sports’ latest episode of “Sunday Night Football,” which featured the state titlewinning Newtown High School football team on its halftime show, attracted an average total audience of 18.5 million across TV and digital platforms, according to data released Monday by the broadcaster.
The Buffalo Bills clinched a spot in the playoffs with the 1710 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The game brought SNF’s average viewership to 20.5 million for the first 15 weeks of the season, a 4 percent increase over the same period last year and the show’s best 15week average since 2015.
The Newtown football players and coaches won the first state championship in 27 years for the Nighthawks on Saturday — the seventh anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. They appeared on SNF’s halftime show to discuss their triumph.
In the segment produced at the NBC Sports Group’s International Broadcast Center in Stamford, host Mike Tirico interviewed Newtown head coach Bobby Pattison and quarterback Jack Street. They were accompanied by the entire roster — all of whom wore their white jerseys — as well as assistant coaches, the school’s cheerleading squad and the Nighthawk mascot.
Newtown clinched the title by defeating Darien, 137, in the Class LL championship game. On a foggy field in Trumbull, Street threw a 36yard touchdown pass to receiver Riley Ward as time expired to win the game and seal a 130 season for the Nighthawks.
“Downfield, it was definitely hard to see. And they were in white, so it was hard to see the defenders sometimes,” Street said. “We executed well.”
Before the play, Pattison called a timeout with three seconds left in a game tied at 77.
“I called a timeout, and we saw singlehighsafety (defensive coverage),” Pattison said. “We actually flopped our wide receivers, and we had a double move across the middle. We changed it to a doublemove to the corner. The kids executed, and the rest is history.”
The team’s players were elementary school students on Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman burst into Sandy Hook School and killed 20 firstgrade students and six educators.
“Newtown is known nationally, as we obviously know, because of Sandy Hook,” Tirico said. “What does this win and the state championship mean, not just for the kids and the school, but all of Newtown?”
“The great thing about football — and sports in general — are moments like this. It brings people together,” Pattison said. “These guys had an outstanding year. To win a state championship and win on the last play is a tremendous accomplishment.”
The team appeared on a show that has ranked No. 1 in primetime for a record eightstraight years.