NFL Tops Emmys in TV Ratings, but Not In L.A.

Preliminary ratings indicate more people watched NFL football on television Sunday than the Emmy Awards show.

But not in Los Angeles, where show business rules and a downtrend in NFL popularity continues.

Fox got a national overnight rating of 16.6 for the second half of its NFL doubleheader, and a 14.7 for its Emmy Awards show.

But in L.A., the Emmys got an 18.7, the afternoon football game only a 9.9.

The late Fox game seen in 63% of the country was Atlanta-Minnesota, a 17-14 Viking victory, while L.A. got San Francisco-Jacksonville, a 41-3 Jaguar blowout.

Fox’s NFL overnight ratings were up 12% from opening day a year ago, and CBS’ were up 46%.

The NFL moved its first week of the regular-season away from the Labor Day weekend, and Fox spokesman Vince Wladika said, “That move helped everybody.”

For its early NFL time slot, where Dallas-Washington was the featured game, Fox got a 13.1 overnight rating, and CBS got a 12.0. In L.A., Dallas-Washington got a 7.0, and the CBS game, Oakland at Green Bay, a 9.7.

The U.S. Open men’s final, in which Andre Agassi beat Todd Martin, got a 7.1 overnight rating and an 8.1 L.A. rating. The women’s final on Saturday, with Serena Williams beating Martina Hingis, got a 7.2 overnight rating and an 8.7 L.A. rating. Last year, the men’s final got a 3.0 overnight rating, the women’s final a 3.6.