Clippers' announcers suspended

The Clippers' broadcast team of Ralph Lawler and Mike Smith has been suspended for one game due to comments made about the Grizzlies' Hamed Haddadi.

During Wednesday's Grizzlies/Clippers game on FS Prime Ticket, Lawler and Smith engaged in a brief conversation about Haddadi, the only Iranian player in the NBA. Here is a brief except of the exchange, which was published on the Los Angeles Times' website.

Lawler: “Wow. Haddadi – that’s H-A-D-D-A-D-I.”

Smith: “You’re sure it’s not Borat’s older brother?”

Smith: “If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I’m going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part.”

Lawler: “Here’s Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball.”

Smith: “Especially the post players.

Lawler: “I don’t know about their guards.”

It was unclear exactly which part of the exchange prompted the suspension.

In a statement, FOX called the comments "inappropriate," and apologized to Haddadi "and to anyone who was offended."

Michael Eaves and Don MacLean filled in for Lawler and Smith on Friday's Nuggets/Clippers telecast.

(Los Angeles Times, twitter.com/benmaller)

The ratings game

• TNT drew a 1.4/3 U.S. rating and 2.1 million viewers for Thursday night's Bulls/Lakers game. Earlier in the night, Suns/Hornets drew a 1.0/2 and 1.5 million. Numbers for last year's comparable games were unavailable. (pifeedback.com)
• Also on Thursday, a Colorado/Oklahoma St. college football matchup drew a 1.5/2 U.S. rating and 2.2 million viewers on ESPN -- down 17% and 20%, respectively, from a 1.8 and 2.7 million for last year's comparable Virginia Tech/Miami tilt. (pifeedback.com)
• Last Saturday's Alabama/Mississippi State game drew a 2.2 U.S. rating and 3.5 million viewers on ESPN, up 57% in ratings and 61% in viewership from a 1.4 and 2.1 million Notre Dame/Boston College last year. (Sports Business Daily)
  

More declines for college football on ABC

Ratings dropped for both games of ABC's college football doubleheader last Saturday.

Saturday Night Football, featuring Notre Dame/Pittsburgh, drew a 3.7 final rating on ABC -- down 30% from a 5.3 last year, and but up a tick from a 3.6 for coverage featuring Connecticut/Cincinnati last week.

This marks the third straight week that ratings declined for Saturday Night Football. Ratings have dropped at least 30% each of the three weeks.

ABC drew better numbers earlier in the day. The network's afternoon window, featuring Iowa/Ohio St., drew a 4.3 final rating -- down just 2% from a 4.4 last year, and the highest rated college football telecast on the network since October 24.

Iowa/Ohio St. finished as the highest rated college football telecast of last week, topping Florida/South Carolina on CBS (4.0).

(Sports Business Daily)

Ratings drop for SEC on CBS

The SEC on CBS juggernaut slowed down last week.

Saturday's Florida/South Carolina matchup drew a 4.0 final rating on CBS, down 22% from last year's game between LSU and Alabama (5.1), and down 7% from another LSU/Alabama matchup last week (4.3).

The 4.0 rating is the lowest of the season for a Florida Gators game on CBS.

For the first time in three weeks, CBS did not draw the highest rating of the weekend for a college football game, as ABC drew a 4.3 for its Saturday afternoon window. However, for the fourth straight week, the SEC on CBS topped Saturday Night Football on ABC.

Earlier in the day, Tennessee/Mississippi drew a 2.2 final rating, the lowest of the season for any college football telecast on CBS.

(Sports Business Daily)

More from Week 10: Mixed results for FOX

FOX faltered early but drew strong numbers late for its NFL doubleheader last week.

NFL coverage featuring Cowboys/Packers drew a 15.9/29 final rating and 26.7 million viewers on FOX last Sunday, up 17% and 19%, respectively, from a 13.6/26 and 22.4 million for Colts/Steelers on CBS last year.

The game stands as the third-highest rated, third-most viewed NFL telecast of the season.

Earlier in the day, regional action featuring Falcons/Panthers drew a 7.2 final rating -- down 8% from a 7.8 for comparable coverage on CBS last year, and the lowest rating of the season for an NFL telecast on FOX.

The 7.2 rating stands as the 6th-lowest of the season for an NFL telecast on any network, ahead of four games on CBS and Monday's Ravens/Browns game on ESPN.

(Sports Business Daily)

Week 10 wrap: CBS sees rise for singleheader

Led by a battle at the top of the AFC North, last Sunday's singleheader window on CBS had a solid increase in ratings.

CBS drew a 9.8 final rating for NFL coverage featuring Steelers/Bengals last Sunday, up 13% from an 8.7 for last year's comparable window on FOX, and the highest rating for the NFL singleheader since Week 6.

Sunday's telecast marks the second-highest rated singleheader of the season on CBS.

The Steelers/Bengals game, which aired in most of the country, drew a 42.2/72 in Pittsburgh and a 39.9/66 in Cincinnati.

(Sports Business Daily, Fang's Bites)

Ratings for Dolphins/Panthers down 30%

NFL Network's second game of the season saw a steep decline in viewership.

Thursday's Dolphins/Panthers game drew a 1.9/3 U.S. rating and 3 million viewers on NFL Network, down 30% in ratings and 32% in viewership from last year's comparable Jets/Patriots matchup (2.7, 4.4 mil).

Additionally, the game was off 21% and 23%, respectively, from last week's Bears/49ers game (2.4, 3.9 mil).

The game outdrew both NBA games on TNT and college football on ESPN Thursday night, but was no match for Project Runway on Lifetime (2.9, 4.3 mil).

(pifeedback.com)

Idle notes

• Comcast and Fox Sports Net are launching their own local websites, posing a challenge to ESPN -- which debuted several local-specific websites earlier this year. Fox Sports Net quietly unveiled "a dozen local sites over the past couple of weeks," each of which corresponds to a FOX-owned RSNs (e.g., FSDetroit.com for FS Detroit, etc). Meanwhile, Comcast relaunched its New England site earlier this month,"hiring several new writers and reporters to provide news and analysis," with plans to "[beef] up its news operations" in other markets in which it owns RSNs. (Sports Business Daily, Sports Business Journal, paidcontent.org)
• The WNBA Monarchs are leaving Sacramento. The team, which won the 2005 WNBA championship, will either fold or move to the Bay Area. According to a league statement, the WNBA is in "active discussions with potential investors" to relocate the Monarchs "to the Bay Area in time for the start of the 2010 WNBA season." The Monarchs are now the third WNBA team in less than a year to move or fold, with all three of those teams having previously won championships. (WNBA, ESPN)
• The November 28 edition of ESPN's College Gameday will take place from Gainesville, FL, site of that day's Florida St./Florida battle on CBS. This will be the 5th time in 2009 that Gameday will visit the site of a game not on the ESPN family of networks. Previously, the show aired from the site of Florida/LSU (CBS), TCU/BYU (Versus), Army/Air Force (CBS College Sports), and Utah/TCU (CBS College Sports). (twitter.com/mikehumesESPN)

Execs Berson, Lacey, out at ESPN

ESPN is letting go of two executives.

ESPN VP of marketing Katie Lacey and VP of programming David Berson will not have their contracts renewed by the network. Lacey's contract ends "imminently," while Berson's contract "is longer, so he will officially be on 'special assignment.'"

Gawker's Deadspin and the New York Post both reported that Lacey and Berson were involved in a romantic relationship. In October, Lacey told the Post that she was involved in "an ongoing and known relationship with a peer."

(twitter.com/ourand_sbj)

NBA ratings down slightly on ESPN

NBA ratings may be up on TNT, but ESPN has not fared as well.

Through 14 games, ESPN is averaging a 1.1 U.S. rating and 1.6 million viewers for NBA coverage, down slightly from a 1.2 and 1.7 million last year.

Four NBA telecasts on ESPN aired opposite the World Series, compared to just one last year.

By comparison, TNT averaged a 1.6 rating and 2.3 million viewers for its first eight NBA games. Two TNT games aired opposite the World Series.

(ESPN)