I'm guessing that this was said in jest, but who knows.

Report: Moonves says network would have topped Fox in ratings if Mariano Rivera held off Red Sox.

Basically, because Mo (/the Yankees as a team) didn't hold off the Red Sox, Fox was able to broadcast more Red Sox/Yankees games which attracted more viewers which improved their ratings and allowed them to top CBS.

"Mariano Rivera cost us more money than the Yankees," Moonves told the advertisers, according to the Times.

Again, I doubt that he is really serious, but if he is: that is an absurd excuse.

While the Times story doesn't mention it, the Yankees' playoff loss last fall is hardly the team's greatest lost opportunity for CBS.

The network purchased 80 percent of the team for $11.2 million in 1964, after the team had appeared in 14 World Series in the previous 16 years. The team never made it to the series during eight seasons under CBS's ownership, and it sold the team to Steinbrenner for only $10 million in January 1973. The franchise is now worth an estimated $950 million, according to the most recent valuation in Forbes.

hehe.

Via WasWatching.com.