This is a special edition of my old Sports on the Air column:
The U.S. women’s soccer team’s 3-0 victory over Vietnam on Friday night led by Sophia Smith in the opening group stage game of the World Cup had a 3.5 rating on WUTV, the local Fox affiliate.
Alan Pergament: Robert Lieberman's Hollywood dream included directing a fantasy Bills Super Bowl win
If any present day UB students aspire to have a Hollywood career, they should get plenty of encouragement just by reading Lieberman’s Buffalo-to-Hollywood success story.
A rating point in Buffalo is equal to 6,375 households, so the local rating represents about 22,312 households here.
That doesn’t sound that great, but the Fox telecast won the night, and Friday nights are typically one of the lowest-rated nights of the week.
The rating also was more than 30% higher than the 2.6 rating here for the National League’s 3-2 victory over the American League in baseball's major league All-Star game played two weeks ago.
If you have On Demand via cable or your provider, a full DVR or have streaming services, there will be much more available to watch than if you cut the cord and only watch the old-fashioned way over the air.
Fox reported the soccer game scored 5,261,000 viewers nationally, making it the second most-watched group stage game on English language television. The game also was on Telemundo, the Spanish-speaking channel. The channel didn't get a rating here.
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The U.S. women are back in action at 9 tonight on WUTV against The Netherlands, which is expected to be a tougher opponent than Vietnam. It also is expected to get a higher rating, since Wednesday, typically, is a higher viewing night than Friday.
Peyton Manning, the executive producer of the Netflix series “Quarterback,” recently announced the series has been picked up for a second season.
The "Quarterback" season currently playing on the streaming service features Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins and Philadelphia quarterback Marcus Mariota (who played for Atlanta last season) and their wives.
A post on Twitter (or X) received considerable attention speculating that Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones would be followed in season two. That hasn’t been confirmed.
Tim Wenger has a new leading role at Audacy Buffalo, the company that owns three prominent AM radio channels in town, 97 Rock has a new midday host and a local FM channel has a new format.
I would be surprised if that would be the case, since all three quarterbacks play in the New York-New Jersey area, and Manning would likely want to spread the interest with quarterbacks who play in different areas.
In addition, no one in the trio is married. Some of the best parts of season one concerned the interactions with the quarterbacks and their wives. Choosing to just follow bachelors in season two would be a change in philosophy to focus more on football.
The Netflix series “Full Swing” also prominently featured the wives of several professional golfers.
Rodgers also doesn't need any more attention, since he will get plenty when the new season of HBO's "Hard Knocks" follows the Jets during his first training camp with the team.
Allen said in May he has "renewed focus" and "I just don't want anything to get in the way of allowing me to be the best quarterback I can be for this team." That would seem to rule him out of "Quarterback."
“When I started working there in 1983, I never thought that I would make it three years, let alone 40 years,” Randall said. “It’s been a great ride."
The dating lives of Allen and Rodgers have been the subject of gossip columns, so it also would be surprising if they would want cameras to follow that aspect of their lives off the field. The game plan of the series presumably isn’t to become a Netflix gossip version of TMZ or Page Six.
Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields has confirmed that he was approached about being in the series, but declined. He isn't married.
The announcers for the Bills' first three regular season games are set.
The Bills opener to be simulcast on ABC and ESPN’s Monday Night Football against Rodgers and the New York Jets on Sept. 11. will have Joe Buck on play-by-play alongside analyst Troy Aikman.
The Bills home opener on Sept. 17 against the Las Vegas Raiders on CBS affiliate WIVB-TV (Channel 4) will be called by play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan, analyst Trent Green and sideline reporter Melanie Collins.
Jonathan Acosta will start at Channel 2 on Aug. 7.
The Bills game at Washington Sept. 24 will be called by the new CBS team of play-by-play announcer Andrew Catalon, analysts Tiki Barber and Matt Ryan and sideline reporter A.J. Ross.
Catalon has been working Bills preseason games for years, and returns this preseason on the games carried by Channel 4 alongside analyst Steve Tasker and sideline reporter Cynthia Frelund.
Ex-Bill James Lofton, who previously was the CBS analyst alongside Catalon, will now team with play-by-play announcer Tom McCarthy this season. Ex Bill Ross Tucker also will do some games as an analyst.
Greg Gumbel remains with CBS, but no longer has NFL play-by-play duties. Adam Archuleta, the analyst alongside Gumbel the last few seasons, will be paired with Spero Dedes.
