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Duke Basketball: Similarities between the Tiger Effect and the Duke Effect

By Kevin Connelly

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 14: Tiger Woods of the United States celebrates after sinking his putt on the 18th green to win during the final round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 14, 2019 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 14: Tiger Woods of the United States celebrates after sinking his putt on the 18th green to win during the final round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 14, 2019 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images) /
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There is no doubt about that major athletes have the ability to drive up ratings in their respective sports, but how does the Duke Basketball program compare to one of the best in Tiger Woods?

The truly great athletes like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Bryce Harper, and Tiger Woods have the ability to drive up the television ratings, and it’s very similar to what the Duke Basketball program does on a consistent basis.

But how does the Blue Devils star power compare to someone like Woods, who just stole the show on Sunday afternoon by winning The Masters?

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There is no debating that when there is a Duke Basketball game on national television, many fans tune in to see the Blue Devils win, but there many be more people that watch to root for Duke to lose.

However, this season while that above statement may be true, more people were watching to see the greatness and explosiveness of Zion Williamson.

According to the program, Duke played in 26 games on that were broadcasted on ESPN this season, with each of those games averaging 2.23M viewers. In comparison, the NBA averaged 1.99M viewers for its combined 101 broadcasts on the ESPN or ABC networks.

According to Darren Rovell, 21 percent of all the televisions that were on in the United States from 9am ET to 2:30pm ET on Sunday were tuned into CBS and its live coverage of Tiger Woods’ win at The Masters.

Rovell also shared earlier in the week that the National Championship between Virginia and Texas Tech was the third lowest watched championship game final in the last decade with 19.6M watching.

The two highest rated National Championships within the past decade? 2010 and 2015.

Who was playing in 2010? Duke and Butler.

Who was playing in 2015? Duke and Wisconsin.

What is the common theme?

The Duke Blue Devils.

The 2010 National Championship game has 23.9M viewers while 2015 topped that mark with 28.2M viewers.

Next. Blue Devils react to Tiger Woods’ win at The Masters. dark

The Masters brought in a 7.7 rating and peaked at an 8.7 rating when Woods was finishing his round culminating in his fifth Green Jacket.

There’s no doubt that fans want to see greatness in whichever sport they are watching and the Duke Basketball program consistently puts forth an elite level of talent and execution on the court every season.

For as long as Tiger Woods continues to play golf at a high level he will drive up the television rating just like Mike Krzyzewski‘s Duke Blue Devils.

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