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Local TV ratings for Caps’ first playoff game up over last year’s Game 1
Current alternate logo, 2007 present (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis noted on his blog Friday, regarding Game 1 of the Caps opening round playoff series with the Boston Bruins, “Last night’s Caps playoff game on Comcast SportsNet attracted a peak audience of more than a quarter of a million viewers – 263,000 to be more precise – and averaged 190,000 viewers in the Washington and Baltimore markets.”
That puts this year’s first Caps playoff game ahead of last year’s Game 1 versus the New York Rangers, which scored 179,000 households in the Washington and Baltimore markets, according to this SB Nation post from last April.
The higher ratings for this year’s Game 1 occurred even as the Caps are coming off a disappointing regular season that saw them not clinch a playoff spot until their second to last game. A year ago, the Caps went into the playoffs as the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
One difference between this year and last year, which could partially explain why the 2012 Game 1 averaged 11,000 more households than 2011′s, is that the Caps opened the playoffs on the road this season due to their lower seeding. Some of those 18,000+ fans who were at Verizon Center for Game 1 last year were likely watching on TV this time. But, it’s still safe to say that local interest in this team remains strong—and may even be stronger than it was a year ago-—given the opening night TV ratings.
Related articles
- Bruins-Caps: Which city wants it more? StubHub says D.C. by nearly 2-to-1 (brookslaichyear.com)
- Caps returning to Baltimore for preseason game against Blue Jackets? (brookslaichyear.com)
- “That stick in front of it by Dennis Wideman…” on Chris Kelly’s goal (brookslaichyear.com)
Caps returning to Baltimore for preseason game against Blue Jackets?
The Baltimore Business Journal is reporting that the Washington Capitals could be headed back to Baltimore for a preseason game this fall. Last September, the Caps faced the Nashville Predators at 1st Mariner Arena in the preseason Baltimore Hockey Classic, playing in the city “for the first time in 20 years.” Jack Lambert of the Business Journal writes:
Ticketmaster had listed Tuesday evening on its website a Sept. 27 game between the Capitals and the Columbus Blue Jackets at First Mariner Arena. The game, again billed as the “Baltimore Hockey Classic,” was removed Wednesday morning from Ticketmaster’s website, just a few hours after a Baltimore Business Journal inquiry to the Capitals (A screengrab of the listing, from April 9, is in the gallery to the right).
Capitals officials declined to comment on the game.
