Chiefs are highest rated TV programs in St. Louis

[ChiefsCountry]

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...b05299441.html
St. Louis hates the NFL? Baloney — market draws nation's third-best rating for Chiefs-Bills: Media Views

We know the popular thing to say in St. Louis about the NFL, which scorned the town, is a string of choice obscenities that can’t be printed here.

We also know that those same kind of harsh words have been directed at Stan Kroenke, who moved the Rams back to Los Angeles in 2016 — after years of neglect in St. Louis so he could blast the market for not blindly supporting his intentionally putrid product, thus strengthening his exit plan.

We also know that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who supported the move, and Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, who was in favor of it so his team would control Missouri, have been the targets of a lesser amount of vitriol in the Gateway City.

“The hell with the NFL, we’ll never watch a game again,” is the sanitized version of a lot of St. Louisans’ venom.

While that type of bravado might make those who say it feel better about the way they have been treated by the league, the bottom line is that such tough talk merely is false bravado.

Quite simply, according to television viewership figures, the Chiefs have taken over the St. Louis market. The numbers say they are more popular than the Blues, Mizzou and even the Cardinals — let alone any other programming, local or national.

The latest example came Sunday, when the Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in a scintillating game that came down to the wire and was viewed by just over 50 million people nationally via CBS television and its Paramount+ streaming service. That’s a record for an NFL conference semifinal game, according to Nielsen, which measures viewership.

Of course, the best ratings were in the cities of the teams that were competing in the game: 54.9% of the Buffalo market tuned in, while the Kansas City figure was 53.4.

Next on the list wasn’t any NFL storied city — not Pittsburgh, Dallas, Philadelphia, San Francisco or anywhere else in the league. Nope, it was jilted St. Louis, which continued its remarkable run in television viewership of Chiefs games. Nielsen says the game, shown locally on KMOV (Channel 4), was seen in 31.9% of the market. That edged an NFL town, Baltimore (31.8) for the top spot outside the cities of the teams playing in the game.

“That’s incredible,” Channel 4 vice president and general manager JD Sosnoff said. “St. Louis loves football and the Chiefs.”

For perspective, the game beat the top-rated Cardinals baseball game last season (10.6) by a more than a 3-to-1 figure. And it slammed the capper to Mizzou’s best football season in nearly a decade, the 13.6 rating for the Tigers’ Cotton Bowl victory over Ohio State.

That also continued a run of dominance on St. Louis television by the Chiefs. Although exact figures were not readily available, it is believed that 31.9 rating they generated Sunday is the top figure for any program shown in the market since the Super Bowl last February — which KC won and drew a massive 42.6 rating in this market.

Since then, six Chiefs regular-season contests pulled a rating in St. Louis of at least 17, which all likely rank in the top 10 for viewership in the market over the past year. So counting the Super Bowl and Sunday’s playoff contest, it is very possible that the Chiefs occupy the top eight spots among the best-rated programs on St. Louis television in the past year — and perhaps all 10.

Meanwhile, the other NFL playoff game Sunday also drew a huge local rating — 19% of the market watched Detroit beat Tampa Bay earlier in the day on KSDK (Channel 5), according to Nielsen. The two Sunday games outdrew the pair of contests the day before. Nonetheless, the Saturday matchups had big ratings — especially considering that day traditionally is the lowest-rated one of the week.

Baltimore’s lopsided victory in the afternoon over Houston produced a combined St. Louis rating of 14.6 across KDNL (Channel 30) and ESPN. At night, KTVI (Channel 2) rang in with a 17.2 figure for its telecast of San Francisco’s narrow victory over Green Bay.

Looking ahead, the Chiefs play in Baltimore on Sunday for the AFC championship and a slot in the Super Bowl. KMOV has the game at 2 p.m.

“I don’t know you top that” rating for the Buffalo game, Sosnoff said. “But I bet it’s going to be spectacular.”

Channel 2 has the NFC finale, Detroit-San Francisco, at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by wazu

The NFL is king. The old KC/STL rivalry has faded over the decades, by a lot. Now if you're a kid growing up anywhere in Missouri, the only team in your state has the best player in the history of the game. Why look elsewhere?

Seriously. Who else are they going to root for? The Bears?

[ThyKingdomCome15]

Originally Posted by LagunaSWana

And Kansas' team, and Iowa's team, and Nebraska's team...

They actually play in Missouri though.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by wazu

The old KC/STL rivalry has faded over the decades, by a lot.

From what I've heard from people in STL, the "rivalry" was one-sided - STL never really cared about KC, they were more concerned with their inferiority complex toward Chicago.

[ThyKingdomCome15]

Originally Posted by sedated

From what I've heard from people in STL, the "rivalry" was one-sided - STL never really cared about KC, they were more concerned with their inferiority complex toward Chicago.

KC fans put a lot more into it for sure. That's just the difference in how the two fan bases are though. In STL you actually sat down and stood up when a big play happened, like baseball. In KC you don't know what sitting down is. It was like the quiet older brother ignoring the obnoxious younger brother. That's the best I can put it.

I do remember when the Rams left there were legit questions as to what team would pick up that market. Chicago and Indy were popular. Tennesee was mentioned. Funny thing is not many mentioned KC but it's clear who has won out.

[ScareCrowe]

Originally Posted by Eleazar

Obviously Kroenke is looking upward at any form of scum that exists on the earth, but they were only able to get out of their lease in St. Louis because the city refused to renovate or replace the terrible building they were playing in.

That's not actually true. The city had a new stadium approved & ready to go. It only needed Kroenke & the NFL to get behind it because it relied on Kroenke applying for G4 funds from the NFL. Which of course he refused to do.

[pugsnotdrugs19]

Clark got so lucky with Mahomes coinciding with the Rams departure almost perfectly. Just a flood of cash coming in.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

They already had a huge Chiefs fan base....even befire the Rams moved. Now it's a supernova of Chiefs fans.

[Raiderhater]

Originally Posted by alpha_omega

This is true. I'm trying to pick up the slack though.
F the Cardinals and everything STL!

Yeah, let’s be real here, it’s not just the sports aspect, St. Louis sucks as a city in general.

[ThyKingdomCome15]

Originally Posted by ScareCrowe

That's not actually true. The city had a new stadium approved & ready to go. It only needed Kroenke & the NFL to get behind it because it relied on Kroenke applying for G4 funds from the NFL. Which of course he refused to do.

Yet STL was lead to believe the NFL was negotiating in good faith. Dave Peacock did an incredible job putting forth a legitimate plan for a new stadium with funding secured. When it became clear Kroenke and the NFL were not negotiating in good faith a lawsuit followed after the departure of the Rams.

Kroenke was not happy with the league. In truth he actually never said anything to insinuate STL had a chance to keep the team, outside of an expensive proposal to renovate the dome that failed.

In return the league told Keoenke from the beginning he was responsible for all legal bills. Stan paid a lot money for everything.

-Five hundred million dollar law suit
-Five hundred million dollar relocation fee
-Six billion dollar stadium

In all honesty the money put into all of it is staggering. Was it worth it? I guess so. Crazy.

Final thought: I think STL came out ot it pretty good. They can just root for the other Missouri team who on the brink of a dynasty. Andy, Patrick and company have brought the whole state together under one unified Chiefs Kingdom. I didn't think that was possible.

I just followed Nick Foles to the Chiefs, the last STL Rams QB. I thought he'd be the starter and I could watch him play for two teams. A year later Mahomes was drafted.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by ThyKingdomCome15

KC fans put a lot more into it for sure. That's just the difference in how the two fan bases are though. In STL you actually sat down and stood up when a big play happened, like baseball. In KC you don't know what sitting down is. It was like the quiet older brother ignoring the obnoxious younger brother. That's the best I can put it.

I do remember when the Rams left there were legit questions as to what team would pick up that market. Chicago and Indy were popular. Tennesee was mentioned. Funny thing is not many mentioned KC but it's clear who has won out.

Packers are the clear number 2 in St. Louis behind the Chiefs. Post-Dispatch did an article on it. They even picked up the preseason games.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Raiderhater

Yeah, let’s be real here, it’s not just the sports aspect, St. Louis sucks as a city in general.

[ThyKingdomCome15]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Packers are the clear number 2 in St. Louis behind the Chiefs. Post-Dispatch did an article on it. They even picked up the preseason games.

They are the only publicly owned stadium in the league. I can see where that would he appealing lol.

[wazu]

Originally Posted by sedated

From what I've heard from people in STL, the "rivalry" was one-sided - STL never really cared about KC, they were more concerned with their inferiority complex toward Chicago.

Sorry, no. I went to school in Springfield, MO. I actually didn't know we had a rivalry until I was suddenly mixed in with 50/50 St. Louis people. At the time they hated the Chiefs and Royals with a passion. Now that was 30 years ago. I don't think it's a thing at all now. When I visit St. Louis most of my friends who live there are now Chiefs fans, either hardcore or casual. And that's my generation who had the Rams and Kurt Warner/Marshall Faulk. So the younger demographics are completely "fan" free agents.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by Eleazar

Obviously Kroenke is looking upward at any form of scum that exists on the earth, but they were only able to get out of their lease in St. Louis because the city refused to renovate or replace the terrible building they were playing in.

The lease was stupid to begin with because the city gave them the out clause due to their president (John Shaw) asking for it and they just said yes.

There were like 20+ stadiums built or substantially renovated from the time the Dome opened, meaning there was 0 chance the Dome would have any chance of being top 25% (which was how they were able to get out of the lease). The lease situation went to arbitration, which sided with the Rams (city proposed renovations as well as the Rams, but Rams proposal was like $700 million). If city had met the Rams request, it would've only kept them through 2025 which would have been a waste of money.

Instead, the state and city spent $15ish million on a task force to work on a stadium proposal with guidance and input from both the league and the Rams. Funding was approved by the city + state as well as a naming rights deal in place. NFL said financial package wasn't adequate (even though hundreds of millions of public dollars were put in place that were approved). St. Louis also would have been the only city to have built and majority financed TWO NFL stadiums within a span of 25 years.

So, the notion that the city wasn't going to replace the stadium is bullshit.

Kroenke ended up settling with the city for $700 million.

Originally Posted by sedated

From what I've heard from people in STL, the "rivalry" was one-sided - STL never really cared about KC, they were more concerned with their inferiority complex toward Chicago.

Correct. Chicago is who we have an inferiority complex to and view as our rival, not KC.

[InChiefsHeaven]

Originally Posted by Raiderhater

Yeah, let’s be real here, it’s not just the sports aspect, St. Louis sucks as a city in general.

Stayed one night there on the way to Memphis...and I have to concur. That place sucked. Stayed at the Hilton with a view of the Arch...worst service all the way around I've ever had at a "nice" hotel.

We had a better time in Memphis and that's like the per capita murder capital of America.

St. Louis sucked.