jeanpierre

Source: Wikipedia - List of television stations in North America by media market

Nielsen rankings of markets attached to NFL teams...

1. NY Giants, NY Jets - New York (#1)
2. LA Rams, LA Chargers - Los Angeles (#2), Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto (#20), San Diego (#29)
3. CHI Bears - Chicago (#3), Davenport-Rock Island-Moline (#98)
4. PHI Eagles - Philadelphia (#4), Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York (#41)
5. DAL Cowboys - Dallas-Fort Worth (#5), San Antonio (#31), Austin (#40), Oklahoma City (#45), Little Rock-Pine Bluff (#57), Tulsa (#61), El Paso (Las Cruces) (#85), Shreveport-Texarkana (#90)
6. WAS Redskins - Washington, D.C. (Hagerstown) (#6), Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News (#44), Richmond-Petersburg (#56), Roanoke-Lynchburg (#68)
7. HOU Texans - Houston (#7), San Antonio (#31), Harlingen-Weslaco-Brownsville-McAllen (#78)
8. SF 49ers, OAK Raiders - San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (#8), Fresno-Visalia (#54)
9. NE Patriots - Boston (Manchester) (#9), Hartford & New Haven (#33), Providence-New Bedford (#53)
10. ATL Falcons - Atlanta (#10), Birmingham (Anniston and Tuscaloosa) (#43), Savannah (#93)
11. TB Buccaneers - Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota) (#11), Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne (#18)
12. AZ Cardinals - Phoenix (Prescott) (#12), Albuquerque-Santa Fe (#47), Tucson (Sierra Vista) (#73)
13. SEA Seahawks - Seattle-Tacoma (#13), Portland, OR (#22), Spokane (#77)
14. DET Lions - Detroit (#14), Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek (#49), Dayton (#64), Flint-Saginaw-Bay City (#65)
15. MIN Vikings - Minneapolis-St. Paul (#15)
16. MIA Dolphins - Miami-Fort Lauderdale (#16), West Palm Beach-Fort Pierce (#37), Fort Myers-Naples (#55)
17. DEN Broncos - Denver (#17), Salt Lake City (#30), Colorado Springs-Pueblo (#91)
18. CLE Browns - Cleveland-Akron (Canton) (#19), Columbus, OH (#34), Toledo (#71)
19. KC Chiefs - Kansas City (#32), Formerly STL Rams - St. Louis (#21), Springfield, MO (#72), Wichita-Hutchinson Plus (#76)
20. CAR Panthers - Charlotte (#23), Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville) (#25), Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson (#38), Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem (#46), Charleston, SC (#94)
21. PIT Steelers - Pittsburgh (#24), Wilkes Barre-Scranton-Hazleton (#62), Charleston-Huntington (#70)
22. BAL Ravens - Baltimore (#26), , Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News (#44)
23. TN Titans - Nashville (#27), Memphis (#51), Knoxville (#60), Chattanooga (#83)
24. IND Colts - Indianapolis (#28)
25. CIN Bengals - Cincinnati (#35), Louisville (#48), Lexington (#63)
26. GB Packers - Milwaukee (#36), Green Bay-Appleton (#67), Madison (#86)
27. LV Raiders - Las Vegas (#39)
28. JAX Jaguars - Jacksonville (#42), Mobile-Pensacola (Fort Walton Beach) (#58)
29. BUF Bills - Buffalo (#52), Albany-Schenectady-Troy (#59), Rochester, NY (#80), Syracuse (#81)
30. NO Saints - New Orleans (#50), Mobile-Pensacola (Fort Walton Beach) (#58), Shreveport-Texarkana (#90), Baton Rouge (#97)

Added the market shares, the order changes, but Saints would still be last - and it's not close...

Even the Bills have a much larger market share and it doesn't account for Toronto just across the border in Canada...

Any questions now why Goodell was likely happy to see the Saints bounced?!?

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...

TheOak

jeanpierre - I am trying to understand the correlation. I get the Nielsen rankings on markets, I do not get how those rankings are attached to a specific team or teams? Also not sold on the relevancy, reason being that putting the Jets at #1 doesn't add up to anything warranting favoritism. If you walk into stores selling jerseys etc. in Houston and they have 3 teams, Texans, Cowboys, and Saints (there is a huge market of Saints fans in Houston).

Just my take but the images showing the most vs least televised teams puts the Saints @ #9 in the league, and the Cowboys have the largest market.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...-every-sunday/

It isn't so much market size as it is which markets the NFL chooses to televise teams in.

jeanpierre

Giants, Jets are in the largest market in the country that's a lot of local media revenue and shows a larger fan-base to draw from the well...

Yes, NW Houston/Katy/Woodlands have an impressive number of WhoDats from the Diaspora, but even still, they're a small minority compared to Houston fans local and fans dispersed about the country...

Higher Ratings give leverage to the NFL in television contract negotiations and to Broadcasters in their negotiations with advertisers - ergo, higher ratings means a bigger pie...

The League Revenue Sharing Pie, as well Goodell's compensation, is tied to the League being able to leverage for higher advertiser spending when those larger markets show interests in the way of higher ratings...

Now I grew up a Celtics fan, Cowens-Hondo-Heinsohn-Jo-Jo then Bird-McHale-Parish and there was no bigger national viewing matchup of Boston-LA...

But even I found it a awkward of how ready the productions of the LA-Boston pieces were coming out the day after the conference championships...

Productions have to be story-boarded, footage researched, financially secured; then you have to get sports legends footage secured, compensated, produced (though Magic never met a mic he didn't like)...

Ratings were down for this Superbowl, but likely due to Patriots apathy (hey, until a teams uses their blueprint and beats them); but make no mistake - there's a high ratings floor when the largest markets are in it...

Ratings mean a bigger pie and the big banana in the negotiations ratings debate is the Tournament and SuperBowl...

Saints fan or naught, they've the most loyal fan base, especially considering the smallest market share - but numbers are numbers and that's what the bean counters need to justify spending...

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...