And so it continues! Season to date, the Top 15 shows on TV are ALL @NFL games pic.twitter.com/Y2wSvDdEuQ
— NFL Media (@NFLMedia) September 29, 2020
The New Orleans Saints have played three games so far, and all three of them rank among the most-watched NFL broadcasts of the 2020 season — including the No. 1 spot, when Drew Brees led his team to victory over Tom Brady and the upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers in front of 26.3 million viewers.
Unfortunately, the Saints weren’t able to stay in the win column for either of their following contests. They lost back-to-back games against the Las Vegas Raiders on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” (ranked No. 10 in viewership, with 16.0 million tuning in) before returning to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where they were upset on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” by the visiting Green Bay Packers (clocking in at No. 6, owing to a crowd of 17.8 million).
Each of the top 15 spots in broadcast programs are occupied by NFL games, per numbers reported by the league, and viewership remains higher than years past — especially when the Saints are playing. There isn’t a TV market in America hungering for football more than New Orleans, due as much to loyalty to the Saints as the many great players from the area (the best of whom are competing in our Homegrown Legends Tournament; vote for New Orleans to beat the Los Angeles Rams in Round 3).
Maybe the numbers will take a dip for the Saints if they can’t get back to their winning ways. But the intrigue of a maybe-final season for Drew Brees and the weight of Super Bowl expectations has created a gravity well that should continue to drag attention to the black and gold.
