Today’s Sports Business Daily says Nielsen Media Research’s overnight numbers show that Fox’s broadcast of Sunday’s Food City 500 Winston Cup race drew a 5.1 rating and an 11 share, well off last year’s final 6.2/16. The race figures trail four individual NCAA basketball tournament games on CBS, but the war with Iraq appears to be having a major impact on all sports broadcasts. The Daily says ratings are off more than 20 percent for CBS’s coverage of the NCAA tournament. CBS, for instance, earned a 5..2/10 overnight Nielsen rating for yesterday’s coverage of the tournament from noon to 9:15 p.m. (Eastern time), down 24 percent from last year’s 6.8/14. On Saturday CBS earned a 5.2/11 from 1 to 11 p.m., down 24 percent from last year’s 6.8/15.( Winston Cup Scene Daily Newsletter)(3-24-2003)
