First it was the thrilling September 15th matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.  The Cowboys prevailed in a 41-37 shootout watched by 18.6 million viewers, the most ever for a cable program.

Then on Sunday, the Cowboys scored another television record, defeating the New York Giants in front of 23 million viewers on NBC – the most-watched game in the network’s three year history broadcasting Sunday Night Football.  And which team played in each of the next two most highly rated SNF games this season? The Cowboys, of course.

Love them or hate them, Tony Romo, Terrell Owens, and their traveling football soap opera are delivering huge audiences for the networks this season. NBC’s SNF and ESPN’s MNF viewership are up 4.3% and 4.1 % respectively compared to the same time period last year, thanks in part to the power of the Cowboys’ national brand.

NFL Network
Meanwhile, the NFL Network is banking on the Cowboys’ primetime appeal as Dallas takes on the Baltimore Ravens Saturday night in a game that has playoff ramifications for both teams.

With college football on the sidelines, this weekend’s game is NFLN’s first Saturday night telecast of the season. Thursday night games on the network are so far proving to be a success for the league’s cable outlet. According to Nielsen’s latest coverage estimates, the network is available in 37% of television households across the country, with Thursday night games attracting an average of 3.4 million viewers, despite stiff primetime competition on other networks. Leading the way was a mid-November tilt between AFC East rivals New England Patriots and New York Jets, which pulled in 4.4 million viewers.

Updated 12/23/08:The trend continues! The December 20 game between the Cowboys and Baltimore Raven drew 5.76 million viewers making it the highest viewership for an NFL Network game this season, and the network’s second highest all-time.

-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: 13.4 million viewers)

-The most-watched NBA Finals in five years (Celtics-Lakers, NBA Championship Series average: 14.9 million viewers)

-The most-watched NHL regular season game in nine years; most-watched finals in five years (Winter Classic: 2.5 million viewers; Stanley Cup, Penguins–Red Wings average: 4.5 million viewers)

-The most-watched Wimbledon final in eight years (Federer-Nadal: 5.2 million viewers)

The surge in viewership could be attributed to the dramatic storylines behind these games and events, but Nielsen’s analysis shows that new technology is enhancing the sports fan’s experience:

-Ratings for sports events are 20% higher in homes with high-definition TV sets vs. total U.S.

-75 million people visited sports websites in October 2008

-11.6 million unique users logged more than 1.2 billion minutes on fantasy sports sites in 2008

-10.6 million U.S. mobile subscribers accessed sports content via the mobile Web in August 2008

View the full report.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in USA Today.

Take our poll.

Sports metaphors in politics and the intermingling of the two genres are nothing new: retired athletes fill the halls of congress, Presidents throw out first pitches, and Championship teams visit the White House. However, President-elect Barack Obama utilized Sports Programming like no candidate in history. His campaign spent an estimated $5 million on commercials during the Olympics (it also bears mentioning that Chicago’s chance of hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics received a huge boost on Tuesday Night).

Dating back to the beginning of this year, there have been 7,416 “Obama for President” commercial units in live sporting events, and 1,081 during the NFL season alone, as the Presidential race wound down. There was the “Obama Infomercial” that delayed the World Series game between the Phillies and Rays by a few minutes. According to Nielsen Media Research, 33.7% of those Obama Infomercial viewers also tuned in to watch the Phillies clinch their first Championship since 1980. [more on Obama and McCain's advertising]

Sports remains one of the last bastions of live television, giving politicians a better chance their 30-second spots aren’t bypassed in a DVR World. The huge ratings that sporting events receive also provide a platform to speak to a wide ranging constituency of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. Professional leagues and sports networks welcome the election year as a new source of advertising dollars, even more critical in an economic downturn.

But the Obama campaign did more than just break out their checkbook for commercial time. A relative newcomer to many Americans back in December 2006, then Senator Obama introduced his hometown Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football. That night, 11.1 million viewers watched as Obama declared “I’d like to put all the doubts to rest and announce… to all of America… that I am ready… for the Bears to go all the way!” He would later announce his political plans to go all the way in Springfield in February 2007.

It is also a prerequisite for Presidential candidates to display an athletic ability and passion for fitness and Obama had this base covered as well. In an April interview with Bryant Gumbel on HBO’s Real Sports, Obama explained his love of basketball, and the lessons it has taught him about sacrifice and team work. That episode of Real Sports was replayed on HBO 15 times for a total of 1.7 million viewers, and the segment received an additional 159,000 views on YouTube. After a long line of Presidents who are avid golfers, Obama’s frequent pickup basketball games will be one of many signs that we may have a new type of President in the making.

On Monday Night, and his last chance to address the nation before the polls opened on Tuesday, Obama (along with Senator McCain) returned to Monday Night Football, for an interview at halftime of the Steelers-Redskins game. The game was watched by 14.2 million viewers on ESPN, the second most viewed cable event of the year. Obama again utilized his change mantra, this time to champion a cause close to many sports fans, the need for a college football playoff system. We can only hope.

Ryder Cup Golf — Minus Tiger
Last Friday morning, 1.4 million ESPN viewers tuned in to Ryder Cup golf coverage from Louisville, Kentucky.  With the world’s best golfer, Tiger Woods, sidelined, golf fans were introduced to Team USA Captain Paul Azinger’s rag-tag group of Ryder Cup rookies.  On Saturday, Ryder Cup’s TV audience more than doubled — an average of 3.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the tournament action on NBC, and on Sunday, 3.9 million NBC viewers watched as the underdogs from the U.S. earned the U.S. its first Ryder Cup win in nine years.  Who says golf isn’t a team sport?

Record-Breaking Football Ratings
In the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys v. Green Bay Packers game last Sunday night (Sept. 21) set a season record for Sunday Night football TV viewing this fall — more than 21.7 million U.S. viewers tuned in for the game on NBC.  Meanwhile, ESPN’s streak of record-breaking Monday Night Football TV audiences continued with the New York Jets vs. San Diego Chargers game (Sept. 22), which drew this year’s fourth largest cable audience.  Could it be that Fantasy Football has finally entered the mainstream?

Good-Bye, Yankee Stadium
Despite competition from the Emmys (12.3 million viewers on ABC) and Sunday Night Football (22 million viewers on NBC), Yankee Stadium’s last ever television appearance — during the Yankees v. Orioles game — drew 3.1 million viewers last Sunday night.  The telecast ranked as the seventh most-watched Sunday Night Baseball game this year.  Yankee Stadium is closing to make way for a new stadium, opening next season.