Does Anyone Care About the Ryder's Cup?

By Noah Davis 

The Ryder Cup finally began today in rainy Wales. It feels like the lead up to the competition between the United States and Europe’s best golfers has taken forever, probably because it has. But does anyone actually watch the event?

Some numbers from the 2008 final day: Ratings ranged from a 3.2 in New York to an 8.3 in West Palm Beach. (Old people love intercontinental golf!) The day averaged a total overnight of 4.4 nationwide.

So, how does that compare to other events?

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Well, it pales in comparison to Monday Night Football, but that’s not really fair. Let’s try a sport that isn’t quite so popular, shall we?

The ratings are better than the average 2010 World Cup game, but NBC on a Sunday is different than ESPN2 on a weekday. The World Cup final on ABC earned an 8.1 rating.

Conclusions? Not a huge number follow the Ryder Cup, but it’s more than watch in Europe.

Maybe let’s stick to rating the wives instead?

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