Around the NFL; Kraft's tough decision; Record number for women's hockey in Ottawa and one novel jersey patch deal in Indiana
Any new goals for the new year? If so, I'd love to hear them and get inspired. So shoot me a note of what you're thinking to do different in 2024. And this is your Morning Buzzcast for Wednesday, January 3rd. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for joining the Buzzcast. So much talk about those two wild CFP semifinals and let's just say viewers certainly tuned in.
You see the power of the Michigan and the Alabama brands and that game drew just over 27 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU. That's the best for any CFP semi since year one in 2015. And for context, that viewership number of over 27 million is equivalent to one of the very best Monday night football games on ESPN. So people watched Michigan, Alabama, and the nightcap of Washington, Texas drew 18.4 million viewers. And among the 20 CFP semi-final games since 2015, that ranks number 15.
But both semi-final games were well above last year's championship game between Georgia and TCU. Of course that was a blowout, but the semi-final numbers very strong for the CFP and for Disney. Disney said that, "Ad inventory is nearly sold out for the championship game next Monday night." Disney said, "Of the 15 official partners of the college football playoff 13 have had a presence for multiple years." So that means inventory is very, very limited for ad time during the CFP title game. Of course, Disney sells corporate sponsorship and advertising around the CFP.
Let's move away from college football to the NFL. We know the NFL gave ESPN a better Monday night football schedule and it shows because ESPN ended up with its best NFL season and viewership since it began airing Monday Night Football in 2006. So just think about that accomplishment. You talk about all the different erosion of viewership, well, not around the NFL and not around Monday Night Football.
ESPN's three best Monday Night Football games have now come this season, eagle's Chiefs, Ravens 49ers and Cowboys Lions. The games this season have no doubt been aided by simulcast on ABC, but a better schedule, better games, better viewership ESPN is up 33% for its NFL package to date as the network closes out its schedule with a double header this weekend on Saturday. So ESPN feeling very good about its NFL numbers.
Another outlet that saw strong gains, yes, Amazon's Thursday Night Football. It averaged just over 18.6 million viewers. That was up 24% from last year. A couple of other interesting factors, the viewers on Amazon Prime Video are younger. They average 48 and a half years old. That's nearly seven years younger than the average median age of viewers watching on linear television.
Also, Prime Video saw a major increase, 14% in the 18 to 34-year-old viewership number. Also, female viewership on Prime Video up 30% this year on Thursday Night Football. So again, Amazon's Prime video up 24% over last year for Thursday Night Football. They have to feel very good about this partnership as they should.
And finally, Al Michaels, not going anywhere. He told USA today that he plans to finish his contract with Amazon, which has one more year remaining on it. He committed to a three year deal. Next year will be year three, and he said after that he'll see what the future has in store for him. But he will be back calling games on Amazon Prime Video on Thursday.
And I guess I have a little bit more NFL because the most interesting story to me as the NFL finishes its season is what will Patriots owner Robert Kraft do when it comes to the future of his franchise? We know Bill Belichick is reportedly signed for one more year, but boy, there is a loud, consistent call for the Patriots to move on from Bill Belichick.
Observers point to a lot of things here. Will Robert Kraft want to be seen as the owner who moved on from Tom Brady and Bill Belichick? And what factor will Robert Kraft's pursuit of the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction that he wants so badly have in all of this? As many have noted, whatever decision Robert Kraft makes will certainly impact his legacy. Most don't see any way that Bill Belichick will agree to give up any of his responsibilities such as control of player personnel or the draft. And I'm sure that's what Kraft would push for.
But after finishing eight and nine in 2022, Robert Kraft told fans, "Things would improve," but they certainly have not. The team is worse. The Patriots will finish last in the AFC East for the first time in 23 years. So yes, it's hard for me to think of a Patriot sideline without Bill Belichick leading that team, but these are the decisions that Robert Kraft has to make over the next week, and I just find this whole situation fascinating in New England.
And I guess I have one more NFL item because on Monday I was at my buddy's house and we wondered about the NFL's fine for Panther's owner David Tepper for throwing the contents of a cup at a fan during the team's loss in Jacksonville on Sunday. Remember Titan's owner, bud Adams, who was fined $250,000 by the NFL for giving the double middle finger to Buffalo Bills fans in 2009 after a big win? So that was 2009 and that was a $250,000 fine for the double Bird. I thought it would be at least a $400,000 fine for Tepper, but it ended up that the NFL fined him $300,000 calling his conduct unacceptable.
David Tepper, interesting, did not apologize in a statement provided by the team, he said he's deeply passionate about the team. He regretted his behavior and he said he should have let NFL stadium security handle any issues. I think that's a good idea for the future.
Well, we talked yesterday on the Buzzcast, a new year saw the launch of a new sports league as the professional Women's Hockey League launched on New Year's Day. And let's just say on Tuesday night in Ottawa, boy did you see the debut of the PWHL, Ottawa's Home opener against Montreal was in front of 8,300 fans at TD Place? They set a North American attendance record for professional women's hockey. So that is a good story.
Remember, there are six teams in this league, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Boston and Minneapolis St. Paul. The teams don't have names, they don't even have logos yet. The average salary for players is $55,000, but the early reviews over the last couple of days were positive. In Toronto, the game between New York and Toronto was called, "The kind of sustainable professional women's hockey many have been desperately hoping for for years." And they also noted, "It seemed like the best players were playing the best players for the first time ever in women's professional hockey league."
The Toronto Globe and Mail wrote, "The debut game in that market felt like a real big event." All the games scheduled for Toronto are sold out. Capacity there is just under 3,000 fans a game, but other venues are kind of a mix of venues. What's remarkable is how quickly this league came together. It came together in about six months. So there's some interesting buzz around women's professional hockey and this league could be the start of something very worthwhile.
And finally, we'll end with this, one of the more interesting new uniform ad patches debuts tonight in Indiana. The Pacers have a new jersey patch sponsor. It's called Spokenote, and this will be the first pro uniform ad on a jersey to carry a QR code. This is a very interesting development since it means the sponsor can deliver content from within a live game. So Spokenote offers a digital sticky note which allows you to share videos by linking them to the QR code on the sticker and sending a note.
They can be used for a number of purposes, like a thank you note. Spokenote said that, "The principal objective of this deal are product education and awareness." This is an Indiana based company. It was launched two years ago. And again, Spokenote, jersey patch will carry a QR code for the first time that we're seeing a QR code on a jersey patch. Motorola was the Pacers jersey patch sponsor from 2018 through last season. So far this season, the Pacers had been without an ad patch sponsor.
The Pacers deal leaves the Clippers, the Grizzlies, and the Trailblazers as the only NBA teams without a uniform patch deal according to SBJ's, Terry Lefton. But again, this deal Spokenote and the Indiana Pacers I think worth watching because of the novelty of a QR code embedded into the patch.
And so that is your Morning Buzzcast for Wednesday, January 3rd. I'm Abe Madkour, thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.