Fox Sports Co-Chief Ed Goren's snow dance brought only negative temperatures to Green Bay. Regardless, the NFC Championship Game was a huge positive for Fox. Next up for Goren's tribe: yet another Boston - New York showdown.Imagine what the ratings would have been if there had been snow last night in Green Bay.
Despite the lack of the white stuff, Fox's broadcast of the NFC Championship Game pulled a 26.3 rating and a 39 share last night. The average of 48.6 million viewers was the highest total for a non-Super Bowl broadcast since the 2004 series finale of "Friends."
During the 9:30 - 10:00 PM (EST) ratings period, Fox averaged a staggering 51.6 million viewers.
Both the game and the telecast were worthy of such numbers. The temperature at kick off was -1 degree and fell to -4 by the game's end, with windchill numbers another 20 degrees lower. You wouldn't know it judging by the camera work, though. Seasonal cold weather often makes a tactile task like running a camera difficult. Performing in Sunday's extreme conditions challenged not only each operator's skill, but their absolute will too: The will to remain standing motionless for four plus hours. Hell, just the will just to remain standing at all.
Try making fine adjustments with a focus knob when you can't feel your fingers. Try keeping a shot steady while shivering. It isn't easy and it isn't fun. Yet every aspect of the game was covered as if it were played in a dome, a testament to the crew -a crew who now have a few days to thaw before beginning their Super Bowl set up in Arizona, some 1,900 miles and almost as many degrees away.
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