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Top 25 Sports Telecasts of All Time

It's no surprise that the Super Bowl dominates the Top 25 highest rated sports programs list, 22 in all. At the top is Super Bowl XVI, San Francisco '49ers vs. Cincinnati Bengals. Super Bowl XVII is in the second spot, while the XVII Winter Olympics is in third place with ratings spiked by the Harding/Kerrigan "incident."

Rank
Program
Date
Network
HH
Rating
1
Super Bowl XVI
1/24/1982
CBS
49.1
2
Super Bowl XVII
1/30/1983
NBC
48.6
3
XVII Winter Olympics
2/23/1994
CBS
48.5
4
Super Bowl XX
1/26/1986
NBC
48.3
5
Super Bowl XII
1/15/1978
CBS
47.2
6
Super Bowl XIII
1/21/1979
NBC
47.1
7
Super Bowl XVIII
1/22/1984
CBS
46.4
7
Super Bowl XIX
1/20/1985
ABC
46.4
9
Super Bowl XIV
1/20/1980
CBS
46.3
10
Super Bowl XXX
1/28/1996
NBC
46.0
11
Super Bowl XXI
1/25/1987
CBS
45.8
12
Super Bowl XXVIII
1/29/1994
NBC
45.5
13
Super Bowl XXVII
1/31/1993
NBC
45.1
14
Super Bowl XXXII
1/25/1998
NBC
44.5
15
Super Bowl XI
1/9/1977
NBC
44.4
15
Super Bowl XV
1/25/1981
NBC
44.4
17
Super Bowl VI
1/16/1972
CBS
44.2
18
XVII Winter Olympics
2/25/1994
CBS
44.1
19
Super Bowl XXIII
1/22/1989
NBC
43.5
20
Super Bowl XXXI
1/26/1997
FOX
43.3
20
Super Bowl XXXIV
1/30/2000
ABC
43.3
22
NFC Championship Game
1/10/1982
CBS
42.9
23
Super Bowl VII
1/14/1973
NBC
42.7
24
Super Bowl IX
1/12/1975
NBC
42.4
25
Super Bowl X
1/18/1976
CBS
42.3

Note: Ranked by Household Ratings
Source: Nielsen Media Research Jan 1964 - June 2006
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