Sarni's Scrolls: Super Bowl Hits TV Jackpot on CBS

Record 123.4 million watch Chiefs top 49ers in Las Vegas thriller

Did you watch the Super Bowl?

Of course you did.

Now take a bow... as you were part of the most-watched telecast in history,

The Kansas City Chiefs’ overtime win against the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Sunday averaged a total of 123.4 million viewers across all of CBS's platforms.

CBS accounted for 120 million of those viewers alone, which made it the largest audience in history for a single network.

The game was also the most streamed Super Bowl in history on Paramount+, and more than 200 million viewers watched at least part of the game on either CBS, Paramount+, Nickelodeon or Univision.

By comparison, last year’s Super Bowl between the Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles set the all-time record with an average audience of 115.1 million viewers across Fox’s networks and platforms. 

The game in 2023 is now the second-most-watched program in American TV history. Only two Super Bowls dating back through 2010 actually had less than 100 million average viewers.

Fox will broadcast the Super Bowl next year from New Orleans. NBC will get the game in 2026, and then ABC and ESPN will get it in 2027 before it returns to CBS in 2028.

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Next year’s Super Bowl could be a key showcase for New Orleans, which has hosted 10 previous Super Bowls and six Final Fours but is facing an uncertain future around the Sugar Bowl’s long-term place as part of the College Football Playoff. 

New Orleans will host CFP quarterfinal games in 2024 and ’25, but nothing is guaranteed for ’26 and beyond.

Last fall, Sugar Bowl Committee CEO Jeff Hundley lamented about the rising costs of being part of the expanding CFP, and organizers launched a website to elicit donations.

■ "The Athletic" is reporting ESPN and the CFP are in agreement on a six-year, $7.8 billion extension for the network to retain all of the Playoff’s broadcast rights through the 2031–32 season. 

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Iowa star Caitlin Clark is up to 3,520 career points, and she's now just eight more away from becoming the women's college basketball's all-time leading scorer.

The historic moment will likely happen when the Hawkeyes host Michigan on Thursday (8 p.m., Peacock).

We got a preview of what Kelsey Plum will say when Clark finally breaks her record, as the WNBA star posted a message on social media a little too early.

"My bad next game.

"@CaitlinClark22 Congratulations on the record, and really your entire season! I appreciate what you do for the game, much respect and love! See you at the next level, hopefully sooner than later 😜🤞🏼"

Courtside tickets to Thursday's game are going for $13,669.

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Tiger Woods introduced his new brand on Monday: Sun Day Red, a stand-alone unit within TaylorMade Golf.

In January, Woods announced the end of his 27-year deal with Nike.

The next chapter will again include a red polo shirt. It will be stitched with a tiger logo with 15 stripes to mark the number of his major championships.

Sun Day Red is marketed as a “lifestyle brand” for both sports fans and non-athletes and will include apparel and shoes.

The polo is on the bloodier end of the red spectrum and includes black buttons.

Woods is returning to competition on the PGA Tour at this week’s Genesis Invitational.

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NBC Sports California announced Tuesday it is hiring Jenny Cavnar as its new primary play-by-play announcer for Oakland A's TV broadcasts.

Cavnar will become the first woman to hold that position in MLB history when the 2024 season begins. She replaces Glen Kuiper in the booth, who served as the television play-by-play voice for the A's from 2006-2023. According to NBC, "she will call a majority of A's games" in her new role.

"It is a dream come true to join the broadcast team for the Oakland A’s and their rich baseball history,” Cavnar said in a statement via NBC Sports. “Growing up the daughter of a baseball coach, I have loved the game frm a young age, along with the stories, history and relationships the game provides."

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"60 Minutes” correspondent and longtime Sports Illustrated writer Jon Wertheim talked about SI for an essay on “CBS Sunday Morning.”

He admitted he couldn’t be objective, given that he has written for SI for 27 years.

“SI still means something — in the present, and hopefully, the future. This isn’t the Model T or Sony Walkman or throwback jersey that simply tickles the nostalgia pleasure centers. SI remains vital to the cultural conversation, especially as sports mean more than ever — cold, rational analysis to offset passionate hot takes, a media outlet whose partnership it with its audience, with sports fans. Not with the league it pays billions to cover. Super Bowl LIX will be held next year in New Orleans. You hope your team will be there. I hope mine will be there, too.”

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ETC.

■ The Kansas City Chiefs victory parade is Wednesday at 11 a.m. local time. NFL Network.

■ Ben Affleck, Tom Brady and Matt Damon broke the internet with their "DunKings" Super Bowl commercial, and Dunkin' is selling their tracksuits. The jacket and pants cost $60 each.... but they're sold out.

■ Netflix greenlit a third season of "Full Swing."

■ Ivory Coast beat Nigeria, 2-1, on Sunday to complete an epic run through the Africa Cup of Nations and win the country's third AFCON title.

■ The Canadian women's hockey team beat Team USA, 6-1, on Sunday in the decisive seventh game of their annual rivalry series. It was quite a comeback for Canada, which dropped the first three games before winning the final four.

■ Two-time defending gold medalists Brazil will miss the Paris Olympics after losing 1-0 to rival Argentina in Sunday's qualifier.

■ Eight-time Olympic medalist sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce told "Essence" that she'll be ending her illustrious career after the 2024 Olympics.

■ USC's JuJu Watkins is averaging 35.8 ppg her past four games.

■ ESPN reported Wednesday that the Warriors made a bid to acquire LeBron James at the trade deadline.

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■ Beyonce used her appearance in a Super Bowl commercial to announce a new album, identified as “Act II,” to be released on March 29. It appeared to be the second part of Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” album project, and perhaps one with a country-rock theme, given the sound and look of two new songs, “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages,” that quickly appeared online.

■ John Oliver brought Steamboat Willie with him to "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" on Monday. Oliver, a Disney critic, is promoting his new season (Feb. 18) with Steamboat Willie, the 1928 version of Mickey Mouse, who entered the public domain on Jan. 1.

■ The S&P 500 began Monday above 5,000 points for the first time. The S&P has rallied 20% from early November. The index has doubled since September 2017, when it was at 2,500.

■ George Gershwin debuted  “Rhapsody in Blue" 100 years ago.criticism,

■ An airport in Florence is getting a makeover that includes a vineyard on its roof. A glass of pinot grigio will still cost $24.

■ Japan is launching a six-month digital nomad visa program in late March.

■ There's been a resurgence of jaguar sightings in Arizona, offering hope that a larger population of the big cat species might once again roam the American southwest.

■ P.F. Chang’s is offering free dumplings to recently dumped individuals throughout the rest of February, providing comfort food to those navigating heartbreak during the season of love.

■ Paleontologists found a new pterosaur species on Scotland’s Isle of Skye that lived around 166 million to 168 million years ago.

■ The new Apple Vision Pro isn’t equipped to play VR porn.

■ Wilson unveiled a 3D-printed basketball that contains no air and costs $2,500. 

■ Jobs for athletes and coaches are projected to boom 9% by 2032, triple the growth rate of the overall job market.

■ Happy Valentine's Day.

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THEY SAID IT 

■ "There's no f---ing way Messi drinks Michelob Ultra." -- John Oliver.

■ "I think Bill will coach again. I don't know. But the energy's there, the passion's there. We just felt for a variety of reasons when we weighed Raheem [Morris] vs. everybody, that he was just the best choice for us." -- Falcons owner Arthur Blank on Bill Belichick.

■ "And after four years, I think he realized that being a shortstop and being an executive are two totally different things. … And I think he realized quickly that being a pitchman for Subway was probably going to be more up his alley than running the team every day and being accountable for that.” -- Former Marlins executive David Samson on Derek Jeter's management skills as Miami CEO.