The Money Crunch

As for CBS, it looks like Brett Favre might just be their knight in shining armor. Having Favre play for the Jets, an AFC division rival of the Patriots, in New York, the biggest market in the country, could go a long way toward filling the ratings void. "Favre is the story in the NFL this year. Having him in New York will have a bigger impact than Brady's injury, no question," says Neal Pilson, who was president of CBS Sports from 1981 to 1994 and now runs his own independent sports-television consulting company, Pilson Communications. With 7.4 million homes, New York is more than double the market-size of Boston "That's a lot more homes," says Gentille. "If you can increase your New York market ratings by a decent percentage from last year, you can easily make up for the loss you might feel from Brady in Boston."

The shift of emphasis from Brady and the Patriots to Favre and the Jets was already in the works before Brady went down. On Sunday, CBS sent its top broadcasting tandem of Phil Simms and Jim Nantz, its A-Team so to speak, down to Miami to cover Favre's Jets debut against the Miami Dolphins, choosing that game as their national telecast and showing it in 40 percent of the country as opposed to just 11 percent for the Patriots-Chiefs game. Favre did not disappoint. The Jets won, and he threw for two touchdowns while displaying flashes of his improvisational play that's become a hallmark of his 16-year career. If he and the Jets keep that up, and New Yorkers tune in to watch old-man Favre lead the Gang Green to a successful season and possible play-off push, fans, networks and advertisers will have a much easier time forgetting about Boston's Golden Boy.

© 2008