NEW YORK -- The NFL regular-season opener between the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers was the second-highest rated season kickoff game.
The Packers' 42-34 victory drew a 17.2 overnight rating and a 28 share for Thursday night's game. That also was the second-best, prime-time rating since a 16.2/28 for a Dallas-Minnesota game in 1999.
Overnight ratings measure the 55 largest TV markets, covering nearly 70 percent of the country. Each overnight rating point represents about 735,000 TV homes. The rating is the percentage of all homes with TVs, whether or not they are in use. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
