A six-pack of media notes on a Friday:
▪ Dolphins television ratings have been underwhelming in recent years, among the worst for single-team NFL markets.
That’s partly a byproduct of South Florida’s large number of Spanish households who do not watch much English television. It’s also a byproduct of a population base with many transplants from the Northeast and elsewhere.
The 9.0 local rating for the Dolphins-Colts opener on CBS 4 wasn’t an embarrassment by South Florida standards, but it was slightly below what most early season Dolphins games generated last season. That 9.1 rating means 9.1% of Miami-Dade/Broward/Monroe county homes with television sets were watching the game. Nearly 91% were not watching the game.
In 2021, the Dolphins’ final season under Brian Flores, they drew a 13.2 rating for their opener, equal to 13.2% of Miami-Fort Lauderdale homes with TV sets.
There has been an erosion in Dolphins ratings in recent years, but ratings for most over-the-air television programming has declined nationally, as more people opt for streaming services.
One ratings point in Miami-Fort Lauderdale equals more than 18,000 homes.
The 9.0 for the Dolphins opener topped the local rating for the UM-Notre Dame game earlier this month and also exceeded the rating for any Panthers game in the 2025 Stanley Cup Finals.
Notably, the UM-Notre Dame game was viewed in about 47,000 more South Florida homes than the Panthers’ Stanley Cup-clinching Game 6 win against Edmonton on June 17.
The Hurricanes game on the Sunday night of Labor Day weekend drew a 7.5 rating on ABC Miami, meaning 7.5% of Miami-Fort Lauderdale homes were tuned to the game.
Conversely, the Panthers’ final game against Edmonton drew a 5.05 local rating.
One big caveat: The Panthers game was on TNT, which is in fewer homes than ABC Miami.
▪ CBS is sending Sunday’s 1 p.m. Patriots-at-Dolphins game to affiliates in Miami-Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Naples/Fort Myers, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Pensacola; Mobile, Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama; Hawaii; and areas of natural interest in New England.
Andrew Catalon, Jason McCourty and Charles Davis — CBS’ No. 4 team — will call their second consecutive Dolphins game.
See 506sports.com for Sunday’s regionalization maps.
Meanwhile, CBS 4 won local broadcast rights to simulcast Amazon’s coverage of the Dolphins-at-Bills game next Thursday night.
▪ For years, Tim Legler seemed underutilized by ESPN. He consistently delivered smart, cogent analysis in studio, particularly on the Scott Van Pelt-anchored “SportsCenter.”
ESPN finally gave him a chance to work meaningful games beginning in the 2023 playoffs and it was a rousing success. He moved up to the No. 2 team last season and now he has been elevated again, to the ABC/ESPN lead announcing team.
Legler will replace Doris Burke alongside Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson on the No. 1 team, which will call the next 11 NBA Finals and 10 conference finals during the next 11 years.
Burke deserves respect as a meticulously prepared, professional pioneer — the first woman to call a championship in a major men’s league. She’s a self-made success story, having risen from a Providence College point guard to a Big East men’s and women’s analyst to a high-profile NBA job on ESPN. Everything Burke received was earned.
Now she relinquishes her spot on the lead team after just two years. ESPN gave her a new contract and moved her to the No. 2 team with Dave Pasch.
▪ Biggest disappointment of Week 1: The NFL continuing to run ads in RedZone, which it did beginning late last season. Don’t blame ESPN.
Though ESPN acquired NFL Network and the rights to the RedZone concept (which can be used on other sports), the RedZone channel continues to be owned and operated by the NFL.
▪ The Dolphins will get a ManningCast presentation for their Dec. 15 Monday night game at the Steelers but will not get one for their Sept. 29 home game against the Jets, which will air on ESPN while ABC carries Denver-Cincinnati.
This will be a rare ManningCast appearance for the Dolphins. During that alternate ESPN2 presentation, Peyton and Eli Manning and guests discuss the game and other topics over live video of the game. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will handle the traditional ESPN broadcast of that Dolphins-Steelers game.
Chris Fowler, Louis Riddick and Dan Orlovsky will work the Dolphins-Jets game while Buck and Aikman call the Bengals game on ABC.
▪ Quick stuff: Charles Barkley said NBC approached both himself and Ernie Johnson Jr. about joining NBC’s NBA coverage, but they opted for the arrangement in which TNT will sublicense “Inside the NBA” to ABC and ESPN. Johnson, Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith will handle studio for ABC/ESPN (from TNT’s Atlanta studios) on the first Wednesday of the season on ESPN, ABC games, Christmas games, select ESPN games, and the playoffs and Finals…
Cliff Drysdale retired after a 46-year career as a tennis analyst for ESPN…
Thom Brennaman and former NFL defensive back Will Blackmon will call the UM-USF game on the CW Network at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. It’s the CW’s first college football game matching two ranked teams. WBFS 33 is the local affiliate for the CW.