Edition: U.S. / Global

N.F.L. TV Ratings Drop

Published: October 9, 1987

The final television ratings for the National Football League games last Sunday - the first games using replacement players - showed declines of about 20 percent from the pre-strike games.

CBS, which broadcast two games in most markets, reported an average rating of 12.2 for the first game and 9.9 for the second. The first game rating was down 17 percent; the second was down 27 percent. Each rating point equals 886,000 households. NBC drew a rating of 9.0, down 17 percent from the 10.8 it drew for the last game before the strike.

ABC had earlier reported an even larger decline in its ratings for ''Monday Night Football.'' The 13.8 rating it drew last Monday was the second lowest since the show began in 1970.

Network executives have said they were not disappointed by the ratings, largely because they expected worse.

ABC, CBS and NBC all said they planned to continue carrying the replacement games after being promised by the league that it would cut its prices to make up the networks' lost revenues. Each network has lost substantial numbers of advertisers, and has reduced the price for those who have stayed, because of the ratings drop. They are continuing to carry the games, the networks say, because they have no alternative programming that would draw a bigger audience.