This morning at the NATPE conference in Miami Beach, outgoing NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker was asked about what the NFL means to NBC.

Questioned by Michael Nathanson who analyzes media properties for Wall Street, and who also happens to be Zucker’s brother-in-law, Zucker said, “I think you only need to look at what happened this year. There’s not a more important brand, maybe in all of America, than the NFL.”

Praising NBC Sports and Olympics boss Dick Ebersol, Zucker added “Sunday Night Football the #1 program in all of television. I can’t even begin to tell you how important it is. I shudder to think about NBC without it.”

This is Zucker’s last week on the job as NBCU CEO, where he spent 24 years — his entire professional career. Steve Burke takes over as CEO when Comcast’s deal to acquire a controlling interest in NBCU, closes this Friday.

Remember when the roof of the Metrodome collapsed, throwing the Minnesota Vikings into chaos?

Well, a similar thing happened before the final of the ATCO PSA World Series Finals.

According to a release, “the inflatable structure at The Queen’s Club in London in which it was due to be staged became unsafe.”

The show will go on, eventually.

“Currently, we are working through the logistics and assessing forthcoming schedules to establish the exact date for when this will take place,” PSA CEO Alex Gough said. “The PSA is committed to delivering a fantastic finale to what has been a world-class event. We look forward to announcing the date as soon as possible.”

Let that be a lesson to the organizers of the Tournament of Champions, held at Grand Central Station later this week.

The final numbers are in from Nielsen, and the “Sunday Night Football” matchup between the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots drew 24.2 million viewers. Not surprisingly it was the top program on Sunday night in total viewers and all the key demographics.

It was the 10th “SNF” game to surpass 20 million viewers this season, and the fifth most-watched “SNF” game of all time.

Not surprisingly, the top markets were Milwaukee and Boston, where the game drew over a 40 rating/60 share.

One tweet. That’s all it took to crash BostonSportsMedia.com.

Six hours ago, the Sports Guy wrote “This story should be a bigger deal. http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/2010/12/odd-column-changes-from-ny-times”.

And bam! Site down.

If you’re interested in the NYT story, Emma Carmichael provides the details at Deadspin.

Until last night, World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon has been off WWE programming while his wife, Linda, runs for Senate in the state of Connecticut.

And based on this clip, that aired during RAW on Monday night, there’s a good reason why he was left off television.

It gives new meaning to the “Stand Up For WWE” campaign.

Happy Election Day.

Ines Sainz really didn’t want the help of the Association for Women in Sports Media.

The TV Azteca reporter, who was in the middle of a firestorm after visiting New York Jets practice on Sept. 11, ripped the group in a column for El Universal.

“Today I wonder why a well respected association such as the AWSM, within its right to inform about any violations of work conditions for its members, acted so impulsively,” Sainz wrote for the Mexican newspaper.

Sainz went on to say that the AWSM set the women’s rights movement back “at least 50 years.”

As a result of the AWSM filing a complaint on Sainz’s behalf, the NFL will implement a workplace conduct training program for all 32 teams and paid for by Jets owner Woody Johnson. Read more

ESPN announced its lineup for the 2011 College Basketball Gameday. The program, which borrows its format from the super successful college football show, will run for eight weeks and feature an additional hour of coverage on ESPNU.

ESPNU will air the new first hour of College GameDay – returning for its seventh season beginning Saturday, Jan. 15 – at 10 a.m. ET and ESPN will continue to televise the show at 11 a.m. and a one-hour edition at 8 p.m. (except Jan. 15 when the show will air on ESPN at 10 a.m. and ESPNU at 11 a.m.). The Saturday Primetime game-of-the-week series will be aired at 9 p.m. (except for Jan. 15 and Jan. 29).

Vanderbilt at Tennessee kicks things off with a men’s and women’s doubleheader on January 15, and CBG runs through at March 5 game between Texas and Baylor at the latter’s home arena.

Rece Davis will co-host, with Jay Bilas, Digger Phelps, Hubert Davis, and Bob Knight returing analysts.

The crew travels to Baylor, Purdue, Villanova, and Virginia Tech for the first time, but doesn’t hit college hoops hotspots including Duke, North Carolina, or Kentucky (although the Blue Devils and Wildcats will appear at Florida and Virginia Tech, respectively).

The complete schedule is after the jump.
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