GIANTS-COWBOYS DELIVERS BEST "SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" OVERNIGHT RATING EVER

Best Overnight For Primetime NFL Game in 11 Years

SNF Game 65% Higher than Emmy Awards

NEW YORK � Sept. 21, 2009 � Last night's Giants-Cowboys game on NBC Sports had the best overnight rating ever for a "Sunday Night Football" game. The Giants 33-31 victory, in the unveiling of the new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium, earned a 16.5 overnight rating and 27 share (8:30-11:45 p.m. ET), the best overnight rating for a primetime NFL game in 11 years.

CRUSHED EMMYS: For the third straight year, "Sunday Night Football" delivered a convincing victory while competing head-to-head with "television's biggest night," the Emmy Awards. While the Emmys were up versus a year ago, SNF still out-rated the Awards show on CBS by 65 percent (16.5 vs. 10.0).

� Head-to-head from 8:30-11 p.m., "Sunday Night Football" out-rated the Emmy Awards by a 71-percent margin (16.6/26 vs. 9.7/15).

� NBC averaged a 12.8/21 from 7-11 p.m. in metered-market households. It's NBC's highest Sunday average, excluding the Super Bowl and Olympics, since January 25, 2004 and the highest Sunday night average for any network in the metered markets since February 22 (Academy Awards on ABC).

� SNF game had the best overnight primetime rating on any network since the American Idol finale on May 20.

BEST EVER ON SNF; BEST PRIMTIME NFL IN 11 YEARS: Last night's game earned an overnight rating of a 16.5/27, the best overnight rating ever for a "Sunday Night Football" game and the best overnight rating for any primetime NFL game in 11 years (Broncos-Dolphins, 17.4/27 on Dec. 21, 1998).

TOP 5 "SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" OVERNIGHT RATING/SHARE EVER:
1. 9/20/09, Giants-Cowboys, 16.5/27
2. 11/25/07, Eagles-Patriots, 15.6/24
3. 12/14/08, Giants-Cowboys, 15.4/24
4. 11/5/06, Colts-Patriots, 15.1/22
5. 9/10/06, Colts-Giants, 14.7/23 ("Manning Bowl")

BIG EVENT STRATEGY: NBC Sports once again employed its "Big Event" strategy for this game, with Matt Lauer and Al Roker dispatched to Dallas where they hosted the TODAY Show live from the new stadium, and, CNBC and Access Hollywood contributed segments about the game and the stadium in the days leading up to Sunday Night.

TOP 15 METERED MARKETS FOR GIANTS-COWBOYS:
1. Dallas, 41.7/61
2. San Antonio, 30.4/43
3. Austin, 25.6/41
4. Las Vegas, 24.3/37
5. New Orleans, 21.9/30
6. Richmond, 21.4/33
7. Albuquerque, 20.9/33
8. Memphis, 20.7/28
9. Oklahoma City, 20.2/29
10. Norfolk, 20.0/31
11. Nashville, 19.8/28
12. Washington, D.C., 19.5/34
T13. New York, 19.3/31
T13. Charlotte, 19.3/30
15. Denver, 19.0/31

**Viewership numbers will be available when national ratings are released tomorrow**