By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Tristate football fans sure loved Super Bowl XXXVII.Tampa Bay's 48-21 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday was the second-highest-rated TV program since overnight Nielsen meters were installed here in 1991.

TOP 10 LIST

The Tristate's top 10 programs, according to Nielsen meters, since the devices were installed in 1991. • 1. Winter Olympics figure skating (Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding), Feb. 23, 1994. • 2. Super Bowl XXXVII (Tampa Bay-Oakland), Jan. 26, 2003. • 3. Cheers finale, May 20, 1993. • 4. Super Bowl XXXIV (St. Louis-Tennessee), Jan. 30, 2000. • 5. (tie) Seinfeld finale, May 14, 1998. • 5. (tie) Super Bowl XXXII (Denver-Green Bay), Jan. 25, 1998. • 7. Super Bowl XXIX (San Francisco-San Diego), Jan. 29, 1995. • 8. Super Bowl XXV (N.Y. Giants-Buffalo), Jan. 27, 1991. • 9. Super Bowl XXVII (Dallas-Buffalo), Jan. 31, 1993. • 10. First Survivor finale, August 23, 2000.

The game averaged a 47.5 rating and 64 percent audience share on ABC affiliate WCPO-TV (Channel 9). That means an estimated 405,745 people here watched the game, representing 64 percent of all TV sets in use.

It was the highest-rated program on local meters since the 1994 Winter Olympics figure skating competition between Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. That NBC telecast on WLWT-TV (Channel 5) averaged a 47.7 rating and 65 percent audience share.

Sunday's game drew more Tristate viewers than the finales of Cheers, Seinfeld and Survivor, and every Super Bowl played since the Enquirer began keeping local Nielsen meter records.

Cincinnati also surpassed ABC's national average rating (40.7) for the game.

The all-time highest-rated Super Bowl remains the 1982 Bengals-49ers Super Bowl XVI in Pontiac, Mich., which drew a 49.1 national rating.

Bill Fee, Channel 9 general manager, says the weather contributed to the huge Super Bowl audience Sunday.

"It was very cold outside and there was no place to go," Mr. Fee said. "And I think there was increasing interest in the Super Bowl commercials, as well as in the game itself."

By comparison, Ohio State's double-overtime national championship Fiesta Bowl victory Jan. 3 averaged a 34.2 rating and 50 percent audience share.

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com