Royals again have highest ratings in baseball for any regional network
The Royals didn’t finish the season as the best team in Major League Baseball, but they were the kings of local television for a second straight season.
According to Nielsen ratings, games on Fox Sports Kansas City averaged a 10.9 household rating (98,000 households) in the Kansas City market. The Royals were the only team in baseball that averaged a rating at 10.0 or above on a regional network.
The St. Louis Cardinals were second in local-market broadcasts at 8.2.
FSKC said that Royals games shown on their network this season were the top-rated programming in prime time. The Royals are one of nine major-league teams that finished first in their local market for prime-time ratings.
The highest-rated game of the season on FSKC was an 18.4 rating on Aug. 29 when the Royals took on the Yankees. That is the highest-rated Royals game ever.
The Royals won that game 8-5, improved to 69-62 and moved within two games of a wild-card spot. They lost three straight after that and began their descent from the playoff race.
Last season, Royals games on FSKC averaged an all-time best 12.3 rating (114,000 households) in the Kansas City market. That was the best in baseball.
Pete Grathoff: 816-234-4330, @pgrathoff
Royals ratings in KC since 2006
Team record in parentheses
2006: 2.0 (62-100)
2007: 2.8 (69-93)
2008: 2.8 (75-87)
2009: 3.1 (65-97)
2010: 2.5 (67-95)
2011: 3.3 (71-91)
2012: 3.8 (72-90)
2013: 6.4 (86-76)
2014: 6.7 (89-73)
2015: 12.3 (95-67)
2016: 10.9 (81-81)
Note: 2006-07 Royals games aired on Royals Sports Television Network. Since 2008, games have been on Fox Sports Kansas City.
This story was originally published October 4, 2016 at 10:34 AM with the headline "Royals again have highest ratings in baseball for any regional network."