We should be unsurprised, considering the historic relevance of the moment, but Game Seven of the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians was watched by a heck of a lot of people.
In fact, according to Jeff Nuich, the senior director of communications for CSN Chicago, it was the highest TV rated Chicago baseball game … EVER:
TV RATINGS: #Cubs #WorldSeries Gm 7 posted a 51.5 Chicago mrkt rtg; peak audience over 2.0M homes. Highest-rated Chicago baseball game, ever pic.twitter.com/dyuCZhiRer
— Jeff Nuich (@JeffNuich) November 3, 2016
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According to CSN, Game 7 posted a 51.5 Chicago market rating with a peak audience at over two MILLION homes. For perspective, the Cubs averaged a 4.5 rating for regular season games on CSN in 2016 – which was actually top ten in baseball. Hell, the potential (but ultimately non-) clincher against the Brewers near the end of the regular season recorded an 11.2 rating – and that was then the highest for any regular-season game in CSN history.
So, a 51.5 is, like, not even the same ballpark.
But it doesn’t end there. The game notched a 48.6 rating in Cleveland and a 25.2 rating overall (so far, but this could go up as the numbers continue to pour in). That makes it the highest rated Game 7 of the World Series since 2001 (Yankees – Diamondbacks) and it’s almost DOUBLE the rating for the Giants-Royals Game 7 in 2014.
Moreover, per a Fox announcement, an average of more than 40 million people watched the game, peaking near 50 million, making it the most watched baseball game in 25 years (Game 7 of the 1991 World Series between the Braves and Twins drew just over 50 million – it’s truly remarkable how close Cubs-Indians came when you consider the VASTLY different TV landscape now). The game even beat Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Brett Taylor contributed to this post.
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