Broncos fans may have been disappointed by the outcome, but ESPN was more than pleased after the Monday Night Football matchup between Denver and Green Bay earned cable television’s highest ratings of the year, the network said.
Brett Favre’s long scoring pass in overtime ended a dramatic game, one that helped ESPN break its own record. ESPN’s 10.5 rating for the MNF game was watched by an average 10,163,000 homes, the most of any cable TV show this year. By comparison, Game 4 of the World Series between the Rockies and Red Sox at Coors Field on Sunday attracted a 12.6 rating.
Favre, the NFL record-holder for most touchdown passes, threw an 82-yard scoring pass to Greg Jennings 16 seconds into overtime to defeat the Broncos 19-13. The 77,160 people in attendance at Invesco Field at Mile High was the largest football crowd in Colorado history.
In Denver, the MNF game earned a 14.4 rating on ESPN and a 22.3 rating for its simulcast on KCNC-4 — for a combined 36.7 rating locally. The final game of the World Series on Sunday drew a 39.2 rating in Denver.
In Milwaukee, the MNF game combined for a 48.8 rating.
ESPN’s broadcast of the NFL this season accounts for four of the top five most-watched cable shows this year and seven of the top 10. The Broncos-Packers game topped the previous highest-rated cable show this year, ESPN’s airing of the Dallas-Buffalo game on Oct. 8, which drew a 10.0 rating.
