Downhill for CBS: Nagano Games Lowest Rated in 30 Years

Too much snow, not enough compelling stories and a less-than-stellar broadcast gave CBS the lowest-rated Winter Olympics in 30 years and probably is going to cost the network heavily.

According to the preliminary numbers released by CBS on Monday, the network got a 16.2 rating and 26 share for its prime-time coverage, 42% behind the 27.8 and 42 from Lillehammer and 13% off the 18.7 rating and 29 share from Albertville.

Nagano finished as the lowest-rated Olympics since 1968, when ABC got a 13.5 rating from Grenoble, France. The previous low also came in Japan, when NBC got a 17.2 from Sapporo in 1972.

CBS’ rating was 17% below the 19.5 it guaranteed advertisers, and the network had to run extra spots during the second week of the games. It still may need to provide additional “make goods” to appease advertisers, who paid about $450,000 for a 30-second ad.

On the plus side, the Nagano Games were watched by an estimated 184 million viewers, tying it with Albertville for the third most-watched sports event in U.S. history, and CBS won 16 of the 17 nights in the crucial February “sweeps period.”

TNT’s afternoon coverage finished with a 1.2 rating, 45% lower than the 2.2 from Lillehammer and 50% lower than the 2.4 from Albertville.

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Five of the 20 members of the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s hockey team will not be pictured on a Wheaties box because they have college eligibility, and under NCAA rules they cannot accept commercial sponsorships if they want to continue playing in college.

Those excluded by the NCAA rules are Tara Mounsey, Sara DeCosta, A.J. Mleczko, Angela Ruggiero and Jenny Schmidgall.

Even though the players won’t necessarily make money from being on the Wheaties box, NCAA rules prohibit college athletes from allowing their photos or names to be used for financial gain by someone else.

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A day after the closing ceremonies, Japan’s Olympic organizers said a bomb threat had been received in a letter postmarked in Germany, and they said that security had been heightened, though the threat turned out to be a hoax.

Japan’s prime minister, Ryutaro Hashimoto, invited the nation’s five Olympic medalists to the official residence and presented them silver cups on behalf of the emperor, saying they had persevered amid “unimaginable pressure.”

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The next winter host is Salt Lake City in 2002, and officials in Utah welcomed the Olympic flag.

Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini and Salt Lake Organizing Committee President Frank Joklik escorted the flag to the United States.

It was greeted by a marching band that played amid fireworks and the cheers of hundreds as an honor guard unfurled the white Olympic flag in ceremonies presided over by San Francisco 49er quarterback Steve Young, a graduate of Brigham Young University.