Olympics surprise — Utahns are only No. 2 when it comes to watching Sochi Games

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Utahns appear headed for a silver medal for Olympic TV viewing. Not that No. 2 is bad, but it would break a remarkable string of gold medal performances.

Olympic TV ratings in Utah have been, well, Olympic. The Salt Lake TV market (which includes all of Utah as well as parts of Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada) has been No. 1 in every Games — Winter and Summer — since 2000. With the exception of a tie with Denver during the 2008 Summer Olympics, SLC has been all alone in first place seven times during that stretch..

But that string may be on the verge of ending. Here, according to NBC, are the top 10 Olympic viewing markets in prime time from Feb. 6-16:

1. Minneapolis: 20.2 rating/35 share

2. Salt Lake City: 19.5/37

3. Denver: 18.7/32

4. Milwaukee: 18.0/30

5. (tie) Kansas City and Fort Myers/Naples, Fla.: 17.2/27

7. Indianapolis: 16.7/27

8. Portland, Ore.: 16.3/28

9. Buffalo, N.Y.: 16/25

10. Boston: 15.7/26

One rating point represents 1 percent of the homes in a given market; one share point equals 1 percent of the homes where someone is actually watching TV at a given time.

With a week to go, there's still plenty of time for the Salt Lake market to make up the difference and move past Minneapolis. But it's been a long time since Utahns trailed in the numbers with seven nights to go.