Little brother AFC closing gap on powerful NFC ratings machine

0 Comments | USA TODAY, September, 2007 | by Michael Hiestand

NFL game coverage this year might produce an oddity as rare as a Triple Crown winner or a golfer getting a Grand Slam. The long shot: The AFC, largely small-market teams that muscled their way from the American Football League into the establishment in 1970, possibly becoming a bigger TV draw than its big-city NFC counterpart.

That's only happened once. And that record has an asterisk: NBC's AFC games averaged 12.5% of U.S. TV households in 1994 to Fox's 12.1% for NFC games. However, Fox, in its first NFL season, was a fledgling network.

In 1975, the NFC and AFC game ratings each averaged 14.2%.

What's different now? The buzz is that the AFC has the biggest stars and best teams. ESPN's Keyshawn Johnson Sunday, in showing males can open up about...