Was 2008 the best sports year ever?  At least in terms of viewer interest, there’s plenty of evidence to support that argument.  Consider these TV sports highlights from 2008:
-The most-watched global event ever (2008 Beijing Summer Olympics: 4.7 billion viewers)
-The most-watched Super Bowl ever (Giants-Patriots, Super Bowl XLII: 97.5 million viewers)
-The most-watched cable broadcast of all time (Cowboys-Eagles, Monday Night Football: 18.6 million viewers)
-The most-watched cable golf event of all time (Tiger vs. Rocco, U.S. Open Playoff: 4.8 million viewers)
-The most-watched cable baseball game ever (Red Sox-Rays, ALCS Game 7: …

The conclusion of the Phillies v. Rays World Series drew half of all Philadelphia households (51.8%) and almost one-third (32.4%) of all Tampa Bay households.
The game aired on FOX Wednesday night, between 8:30pm and 10:15pm EDT.  
In comparison, just 29% of Philly households and 23.4% of Tampa Bay households watched Barack Obama’s infomercial in the half hour leading up to what proved to be the Phillies-Rays’ final game.
The half-hour political simulcast — the first of its kind, since Ross Perot ran a political telecast on the eve of Election Day in 1996 — aired on CBS, …

The conclusion of Game 5 of the MLB World Series, which aired on FOX, was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Wednesday, October 29, 2008.
CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” rounded out the top three.
NBC’s and CBS’s telecasts of Sen. Barack Obama’s half-hour political infomercial also made the top 10.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
FOX WRLD SERIES GM5 CONCL(S)-10/29/2008
FOX
19,844,000

2
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
13,966,000

3
CSI: NY
CBS
13,754,000

4
FOX WRLD SRS GM5 CONCLPRE(S)-10/29/2008
FOX
12,080,000

5
FOX WRLD SRS GM5 CONCLPST(S)-10/29/2008
FOX
10,538,000

6
OBAMA: PAID POLITICAL-NBC(S)-10/29/2008
NBC
9,911,000

7
OBAMA: PAID POLITICAL-CBS(S)-10/29/2008
CBS
8,602,000

8
DEAL OR NO DEAL-WED
NBC
8,337,000

9
PRIVATE PRACTICE
ABC
7,933,000

10
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
7,607,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 29, 2008).

Overall, FOX won the night with an average …

Updated: The conclusion of Game 5 of the MLB World Series, in which the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1, drew 19.8 million average viewers Wednesday night — the series’ largest TV audience. 
The first half of Game 5, on Monday night, drew 13.2 million average TV viewers — before a rain delay suspended play in the bottom of the sixth inning.

DATE
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2008
(GAME 5 – conclusion)
FOX
19,844,000

MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2008
(GAME 5 – suspended in 6th inning by rain delay)
FOX
13,237,000

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2008
(GAME 4)
FOX
15,479,000

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2008
(GAME 3)
FOX
9,836,000

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2008
(GAME …

Each week, Nielsen Sports analysts offer their take on the biggest sports media headlines.
This past weekend, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama faced some tough competition in Pennsylvania. 
With the Phillies playing in the World Series and college and pro football games on both Saturday and Sunday, there was no shortage of TV sports options for politics-weary Pennsylvanians, looking for a break from presidential campaigning.
The action started on Saturday in western Pennsylvania, as the Penn State Nittany Lions took on their Big 10 Rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes.  In nearby Pittsburgh, 20.8% of …

Each week, Nielsen Sports’ analysts offer their take on the biggest sports media headlines.
Many in the media were hoping for a Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Dodgers World Series match-up, but the fans in Tampa and Philadelphia certainly aren’t complaining. 
In Philadelphia, the fourth largest U.S. TV market, 35.7% of all local households tuned in for the first game of the Series Wednesday night.  Viewership in the city of brotherly love has grown steadily throughout the playoffs.
That upwardly mobile TV ratings trend was also evident in the Tampa Bay market, where local …

The 2001 World Series telecasts (New York Yankees vs. Arizona Diamondbacks) claimed the largest U.S. TV audiences in recent memory: 24.5 million viewers per telecast, on average. 
But the late Seventies and early Eighties remain the true glory days of World Series TV viewership.
The 1980 World Series telecasts — the last time the Philadelphia Phillies won a World Series — drew the largest per game TV audiences on record: almost 54.9 million average viewers.

Game seven of the closely contested American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays drew the largest ever TV audience of any MLB playoff game aired on cable, Nielsen reported Tuesday.  
The game, which aired on TBS Sunday night, drew almost 13.4 million average viewers, easily surpassing game four of last year’s Indians v. Yankees division series, which claimed second place overall with 9.2 million average viewers.
TV viewership of the ALCS games surged after the Red Sox overcame a seven-run deficit in game five to beat the …

Baseball fans across the country might have been a little sleepy Friday morning after watching the Boston Red Sox’ late-night comeback victory against the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 of the MLB American League championship Series.
The game, in which the Red Sox trailed the Rays by seven runs as late as the seventh inning, was a rollercoaster ride for both teams’ fans — as reflected in the preliminary metered market TV ratings, released by Nielsen on Friday.
At the close of the game’s first hour, one-quarter of all Boston households were watching, …

Each week, Nielsen Sports’ analysts offer their take on the biggest sports media headlines.
Professional baseball, football, basketball, hockey — and even NASCAR — all converge in October, making it one of the year’s busiest sports months.  Unfortunately, that plethora of options frequently presents sports fans with difficult TV viewing decisions.
Take this past Sunday — when NBC’s Sunday Night Football carried live coverage of the San Diego Chargers playing the New England Patriots.  Meanwhile, Game 3 of the MLB National League Championship Series aired live on FOX.