This confirms it: Kansas Citians love sports.

That was clearly evident with TV Spy reporting that Kansas City finished second in the nation of viewers in the top 56 Portable People Meter (PPM) markets for the recently completed London Summer Olympics on KSHB’s 41 Action News station.

KC finished with a strong 22.5 rating of TV households and a 37 share of local televisions turned into the games in prime time.

Salt Lake City finished on top at 25/45, a position the Utah city held throughout the Olympics.  Kansas City hovered between the second and third spot throughout the 17 days of the Games and finished ahead of third-place Milwaukee. St. Louis finished 22nd in viewing.

Overall, the London Summer Olympics are now the most-watched event in TV history. The 17 days of the games drew 219.4 million viewers, 4.4 million more than the Bejing Olympics in 2008, and 10 million more than the 1996 Atlanta games. An average of 31.1 million viewers watched each night in prime time.

NBC issued an extensive news release on Olympics viewership.

Locally, KSHB is hoping for a strong ratings bounce from the Olympic coverage with more viewers not only tuning into the important 10 p.m. news, but then also having their TV sets tuned to the station when they turn on their TV’s in the morning.  KSHB introduced a new graphics package during the Olympics and heavily marketed itself to viewers throughout the games and hopes those efforts pay off at the NBC affiliate going forward.

Nationwide,  local newscasts on NBC affiliates saw major increases. In the 56 metered markets, compared to the July 2012 sweeps period, Morning newscasts (5-7am) were up +53%; Evening newscasts (5-7:30pm) were up +59% and late newscasts were up +84%.

Here’s how the top 56 metered markets finished:

1. Salt Lake City 25.0/45 (KSL)

2. Kansas City 22.5/37 (KSHB)

3. Milwaukee 22.3/37 (WTMJ)

4. Denver 22.1/42 (KUSA)

5. Columbus, OH 21.9/36 (WCMH)

6. Norfolk 21.2/33 (WAVY)

7. Indianapolis 20.9/36 (WTHR)

T8. San Diego 20.8/37 (KNSD) T8. West Palm Beach 20.8/34 (WPTV)

10. Richmond 20.6/33 (WWBT)

11. Albuquerque-Santa Fe 20.3/34 (KOB)

12. Portland, OR 20.0/41 (KGW)

13. Minneapolis-St. Paul 19.9/38 (KARE)

14. Oklahoma City 19.8/32 (KJRH)

T15. Atlanta 19.7/32 (WXIA) T15. Austin 19.7/35 (KXAN)

T17. San Francisco 19.6/39 (KNTV) T17. Washington, D.C. 19.6/36 (WRC) T17. Sacramento 19.6/37 (KCRA) T20. Nashville 19.4/30 (WSMV) T20. Ft. Myers 19.4/35 (WBBH) 22. St. Louis 19.0/32 (KSDK) 23. Los Angeles 18.8/35 (KNBC) 24. New Orleans 18.5/27 (WDSU) 25. Greensboro-High Point 18.4/29 (WXII) T26. New York 18.2/31 (WNBC) T26. Chicago 18.2/32 (WMAQ) T26. Phoenix 18.2/31 (KPNX) T26. Knoxville 18.2/29 (WBIR) T26. Tulsa 18.2/29 (KJRH) T31. Cleveland 18.1/30 (WKYC) T31. Jacksonville 18.1/29 (WTLV) T33. Seattle-Tacoma 17.9/36 (KING) T33. Louisville 17.9/30 (WAVE) 35. Orlando-Daytona Beach 17.8/31 (WESH) 36. Cincinnati 17.7/30 (WLWT) 37. Philadelphia 17.6/29 (WCAU) 38. Dallas-Ft. Worth 17.4/31 (KXAS) T39. Detroit 17.3/29 (WDIV) T39. San Antonio 17.3/27 (WOAI) 41. Memphis 17.2/26 (WMC) 42. Baltimore 17.1/28 (WBAL) 43. Pittsburgh 16.9/29 (WPXI) 44. Boston 16.8/31 (WHDH) T45. Houston 16.7/29 (KPRC) T45. Hartford-New Haven 16.7/28 (WVIT) T47. Birmingham 16.6/25 (WVTM) T47. Buffalo 16.6/29 (WGRZ) 49. Las Vegas 16.5/28 (KSNV) 50. Greenville-Spartanburg 16.2/26 (WYFF) 51. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale 16.1/27 (WTVJ) T52. Tampa-St. Petersburg 15.8/29 (WFLA) T52. Providence-New Bedford, RI 15.8/27 (WJAR) T52. Dayton 15.8/26 (WDTN) 55. Raleigh-Durham 14.9/24 (WNCN) 56. Charlotte 13.9/24 (WCNC)