When Hank Williams Jr. sings his opening lyrics on Monday Night Football he will ask, “Are you ready for some football?” The roar of “amens” from Mahtomedi to Mound will shake the metro area. As Hank warms up the audience, the Minnesota Vikings will be ready to play their opening game of the season against the Washington Redskins on ESPN before a national TV audience on the Monday night stage.
Our kingdom loves the Vikings and media expert John Rash predicts a huge local audience will tune in (even more viewers than watch the Vikings on Sundays). Rash, senior vice president at the Campbell Mithun marketing communications agency in Minneapolis, expects the TV rating here to be 30 or 35. By contrast, the local viewing audience for the Super Bowl is about 40, he said. (A rating point is a percentage of households watching a particular program).
With about 500,000 local households watching the game, the Vikings will add to their reputation as the most popular team in town. Even for a pre-season game the Vikings solidly beat the Twins in the local ratings. The Vikings had a 12.8 rating for their August 25 game against Baltimore while the Twins, fighting for a playoff spot, were playing the World Champion White Sox in Chicago and drew an 8.9 rating, according to the Star Tribune.
The August 25 ratings caught Rash’s attention. “What’s surprising is that it remains such a strong Vikings town considering the Twins on-field performance and the Vikings off-field behavior,” he said.
The Lake Minnetonka boat scandal and other off-field incidents may discourage some casual followers of the Purple, but Rash said following the Vikings is about more than just watching a game. “Pro football has transcended a sporting event and become a social event, particularly in Minnesota,” he explained. “People get together and visit during the games, and the games become a back drop, not necessarily a compelling event in itself.”
Interest in the Vikings exceeds the popularity of many other NFL teams in their markets. One factor, Rash said, is so many people here (unlike other markets with a higher percentage of residents who have relocated) grew up in Minnesota and followed the team for years. He also said another reason is the cool weather here during much of the NFL season (unlike many markets where the weather may be the best of the year).
Monday night’s game will be the first regular season Monday telecast by ESPN, ending the 36-year tradition of games on ABC. Rash said the Monday night series will produce the highest ratings for continuous programming ever on ESPN, but the audience will be smaller than ABC. He said ABC has 99% coverage throughout the country, while ESPN has 85%.