Michigan State’s Victory Provides No Magic for CBS

There was no magic for CBS in Michigan State’s victory over Florida in the NCAA men’s basketball championship game Monday night.

The national telecast drew a 14.1 rating, the lowest since CBS began televising the NCAA tournament in 1982 and 18% lower than last year’s 17.2 for Connecticut’s victory over Duke.

The tournament as a whole averaged an all-time low of 6.4 for CBS, which in November agreed to a $6-billion, 11-year extension, beginning in 2003.

In Los Angeles, Monday night’s game on Channel 2 drew an 8.8 rating, also an all-time low. By comparison, when UCLA defeated Arkansas in 1995, the L.A. rating was a 25.4. When Arizona beat Kentucky in 1997, the L.A. rating was a 19.4.

The 8.8 also is lower than the 9.7 rating Channel 4 got for the Lakers’ Sunday afternoon game against the New York Knicks. The baseball openers Monday got L.A. ratings of 4.0 for the Angels on Channel 9 and 3.2 for the Dodgers on Channel 5.

The NCAA women’s title game on ESPN Sunday night got a 3.5 national rating, off 19% from a year ago. The L.A. rating was a 1.0.