January 2, 2004
No. 384

NFL SETS LOCAL TV VIEWERSHIP RECORD; TOPS REGULAR PRIMETIME 
For the first time ever, last week -- the final week of the 2003 NFL season -- NFL games ranked No. 1 against all programming for the week in all 30 NFL home markets.  For the season, NFL games were the top-rated program in local markets a record 73 percent of the time.  Nationally for the entire season, NFL games on ABC, CBS and FOX averaged 15.5 million viewers, 56 percent higher than the average primetime viewership among the four major over-the-air networks.  NFL games on ESPN accounted for the top eight telecasts of 2003 on cable TV.  The NFL also accounted for three of the top five programs on network TV this season. 

PLAYOFFS BUILT WITH SUPER BOWL EXPERIENCE
Of the 12 teams in the NFL playoffs which begin this weekend, seven are winners of the past eight Super Bowls -- every Super Bowl since 1995 except for Tampa Bay last year.  Those teams are: New England, Baltimore, St. Louis, Denver (twice), Green Bay and Dallas.  Three of these teams -- Green Bay, New England and St. Louis -- also played in a second Super Bowl.  And Tennessee played in Super Bowl XXXIV.  That means that seven of this year's 12 playoff teams have had 11 of the 16 Super Bowl appearances of the past eight seasons......Most of this season's playoff teams have had consistently strong cumulative won-loss records in recent seasons, headed by St. Louis and Tennessee -- each with a 56-24 (.700) regular-season record over the past five years. 

SKI SEASON?  NOT WHEN PLAYOFFS BEGIN!
The holidays are over.  Time to hit the ski trails?  Not quite yet -- the NFL playoffs are beginning.  And for a lot of ski resorts, that's bad for business.  Take those ski meccas like Vail and Beaver Creek in Colorado.  This weekend, when the Denver Broncos face the Indianapolis Colts in a Wild Card game on Sunday, those resort operators expect a dropoff in business because people will be glued to the TV rather than waxing their skis.  "It's a double-edged sword," says Loveland ski area spokesman KEVIN WRIGHT.  "We all want the Broncos to do well, but we know at the bottom of our hearts that more people will be watching the NFL playoffs on TV than skiing."  Even the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo in Colorado, which opens January 10, knows it will feel an attendance impact if the Broncos continue in the playoffs.  "The Broncos are like a runaway herd of cattle," says rodeo President PAT GRANT.  "This is a Bronco stampede"......Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, the city is blue -- as in Colts blue.  Indianapolis Mayor BART PETERSON declared January 2 as "Believe In Blue Friday" and urged the citizenry to get behind the Colts by dressing in blue, as the team does.  In going one step further, the city has dyed its Downtown Canal blue.  Wearing a Colts AFC South championship sweatshirt, Peterson told a rally, "Let's come together as a city and show how loud and proud we are."