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Millions in Chicago glued to TV watching Cubs’ World Series win

Cleveland Indians fans react as they watch coverage of Game 7 of the baseball World Series outside Progressive Field. (David Dermer / Associated Press)
By Phil Rosenthal Chicago Tribune
Cleveland Indians fans react as they watch coverage of Game 7 of the baseball World Series outside Progressive Field. (David Dermer / Associated Press)

The Cubs’ first World Series championship in 108 years had Chicago-area viewers glued to their televisions for five hours on Wednesday.

An average audience of more than 3.2 million people in the Chicago market watched Fox’s coverage of the 8-7, 10-inning Game 7 victory over the Cleveland Indians between 7 p.m. and midnight, according to overnight Nielsen numbers.

This was despite a rain delay that held up the start of the extra inning to break a 6-6 tie for more than 15 minutes, giving any fair-weather fan who might have been the least bit concerned about work or school the next day an excuse to go to bed.

The 51.5 household rating over that five-hour span, or 51.5 percent of all homes in Chicago area, translates to an average of roughly 1.78 million homes having the historic game on here in any one quarter-hour.

Though viewership seemed to peak between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., the Cubs and Indians enjoyed an average 72 percent share of households in Chicago watching anything on television over the entire 7 p.m.-to-midnight stretch.

Early estimates of the nation’s top markets, subject to adjustment later, had the telecast drawing a 25.2 overnight rating. That’s the best World Series Game 7 overnight rating since the 27.0 in 2001 for the Arizona Diamondbacks’ victory over the New York Yankees, a Sunday-night affair.

Heading into this year’s Game 7, the Cubs-Indians matchup of long-frustrated ballclubs had already made this World Series the most-watched since 2004, when the Boston Red Sox ended their 86-year World Series title drought with a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Indians, too, were looking to end a long run without a championship – 68 years – but their dry spell paled in comparison to the Cubs, who hadn’t even played in a World Series since 1945. The World Series wasn’t even televised until 1947.

The 51.5 rating Wednesday puts this year’s deciding game from Cleveland locally just below the 52.1 household rating in this market for Michael Jordan’s last game with the Bulls, their 1998 clincher over Utah for a sixth NBA title but above the 50.2 Chicago-area household rating for the Bears’ 2007 Super Bowl XLI loss to Indianapolis.

The local gold standard for sports household TV ratings is the 63.1 the “Super Bowl Shuffle” Bears scored with their 1986 Super Bowl XX rout of the New England Patriots, though the Bulls’ 1997 title clincher over Utah earned an impressive 53.1.

The Cubs-Indians grand finale’s household rating is markedly higher than the final two games of the 2003 Cubs-Marlins National League Championship Series (44.5 for Game 6 and 47.1 for Game 7).

It also was better than the Blackhawks’ decisive 2015 Game 6 Stanley Cup Final victory over Tampa Bay (which drew a 41.0) and the 2005 White Sox’s decisive fourth game over the Astros to sew up their first World Series title in 88 years (which had a 42.5).

During the 11:45 p.m.-midnight quarter-hour, as the game was just ending and the Cubs’ victory was sinking in, close to 82 percent of all local homes watching TV had the game on. Nielsen estimates that more than 3.3 million people in the Chicago area were watching then.