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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ncaa Final Sets Mark For Smallest Numbers

Associated Press

CBS’s telecast of the Kentucky-Syracuse game drew the lowest rating for a prime-time NCAA basketball championship game.

Kentucky’s 76-67 victory Monday night picked up an 18.3 rating, 5 percent lower than last year’s 19.3 for UCLA-Arkansas. The previous low for a prime-time NCAA title game was 18.8 for OklahomaKansas in 1988. The championship game has been telecast in prime time since 1973.

CBS officials pointed out that the Kentucky-Syracuse rating was 55 percent higher than the network’s average prime-time rating this year. The game also was the second highest-rated program on CBS this year, trailing the Fiesta Bowl’s 18.9.

“Those are terrific numbers,” said CBS Sports president David Kenin. “They are much better than we’ve been doing in that time period.”

Overall, the tournament drew an average rating of 7.5, up 3 percent from last year. The average ratings for the past two years are the lowest for the tournament.

One rating point represents 959,000 households, 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 95.9 million TV homes.