Halftime: The 50 Most-Watched Sporting Events of 2014 (So Far)

At the unofficial halfway point of the sports calendar, here is a look at the most-watched sporting events of the year so far. Click here to jump straight to the list.

The first half of 2014 was a bit atypical thanks to the Winter Olympics and World Cup. Those two events accounted for exactly half of the 50 most-watched sports telecasts this year — eighteen for the Olympics and seven for the World Cup — and 11 of the top 12 non-NFL events. The Opening Ceremony of the Olympics (31.7M) and the Germany/Argentina World Cup final (26.5M) rank as the two most-watched non-NFL sporting events of the year.

There have been other oddities. Horse racing placed higher on this year’s list than the NBA Finals, as The Belmont Stakes drew 20.4 million viewers (#26) and Spurs/Heat topped out at 18.0 million (#33). NASCAR and golf both plummeted out of the top 50 as the Daytona 500 (9.3M) and The Masters (11.0M) suffered sizable declines. The NFL Draft — not even an actual sporting event — managed to crack the list with 12.4 million viewers on ESPN and NFL Network.

Even in an atypical year, the NFL was still dominant. NFL games took up the top eight spots on the list, led by the Seahawks/Broncos Super Bowl — the most-watched program in U.S. television history. Every NFL game played in 2014 had more viewers than the most-watched World Cup match.

This year’s list also includes several events outside of the top 50.

50 Most-Watched Sporting Events of 2014 So Far

#	Sport	Event	Net	Rtg.	Vwrs.
1	NFL	Seahawks/Broncos Super Bowl 48	FOX	46.7	112.19M
2	NFL	Seahawks/49ers NFC Championship	FOX	28.5	55.91M
3	NFL	Patriots/Broncos AFC Championship	CBS	28.1	51.30M
4	NFL	49ers/Packers NFC Wild Card	FOX	25.8	47.10M
5	NFL	Chargers/Broncos AFC Divisional	CBS	23.1	41.21M
6	NFL	Saints/Eagles NFC Wild Card	NBC	19.1	34.36M
7	NFL	49ers/Panthers NFC Divisional	FOX	19.9	33.30M
8	NFL	Colts/Patriots AFC Divisional	CBS	17.8	31.69M
9	Oly.	Opening Ceremony	NBC	17.0	31.69M
10	NFL	Saints/Seahawks NFC Divisional	FOX	18.1	31.10M
11	NFL	Chargers/Bengals AFC Wild Card	CBS	18.9	30.90M
12	NFL	Chiefs/Colts AFC Wild Card	NBC	16.0	27.58M
13	World Cup	Germany/Argentina Final	ABC, UNI	N/A	26.50M
14	Oly.	Primetime (2/9)	NBC	14.4	26.32M
15	CFB	FSU/Auburn BCS Championship	ESPN, ESPN2, ESNWS	14.8	26.06M
16	Oly.	Primetime (2/8)	NBC	13.9	25.12M
17	World Cup	USA/Portugal Group stage	ESPN, UNI	N/A	24.76M
18	Oly.	Primetime (2/11)	NBC	13.7	23.72M
19	Oly.	Primetime (2/17)	NBC	13.8	23.55M
20	Oly.	Primetime (2/13)	NBC	13.4	22.94M
21	Oly.	Primetime (2/10)	NBC	12.8	22.40M
22	World Cup	Belgium/USA Round of 16	ESPN, UNI	N/A	21.57M
23	Oly.	Primetime (2/16)	NBC	12.1	21.27M
24	CBB	UConn/Kentucky Final Four	CBS	12.4	21.20M
25	Oly.	Primetime (2/12)	NBC	12.1	20.81M
26	Horse	Belmont Stakes	NBC	11.9	20.40M
27	Oly.	Primetime (2/20)	NBC	12.2	20.29M
28	Oly.	Primetime (2/19)	NBC	12.2	20.19M
29	Oly.	Primetime (2/6)	NBC	11.3	20.02M
30	Oly.	Primetime (2/14)	NBC	10.9	19.11M
31	Oly.	Primetime (2/18)	NBC	11.2	18.93M
32	CFB	Mich. St./Stanford Rose Bowl	ESPN	10.2	18.64M
33	NBA	Heat/Spurs NBA Finals Game 5	ABC	10.3	18.00M
34	Oly.	Primetime (2/15)	NBC	9.6	17.10M
35	World Cup	Netherlands/Mexico Round of 16	ESPN, UNI	N/A	16.96M
36	CFB	Oklahoma/Alabama Sugar Bowl	ESPN	9.3	16.34M
37	CBB	Kentucky/Wisconsin Final Four	TBS, TNT, TruTV	9.2	16.25M
38	World Cup	USA/Ghana Group stage	ESPN, UNI	N/A	15.94M
39	Horse	Kentucky Derby	NBC	9.4	15.30M
40	NBA	Heat/Spurs NBA Finals Game 2	ABC	9.0	15.13M
41	Oly.	Closing Ceremony	NBC	8.7	15.12M
42	NBA	Spurs/Heat NBA Finals Game 4	ABC	9.3	14.96M
43	Oly.	Primetime (2/21)	NBC	8.8	14.93M
44	NBA	Heat/Spurs NBA Finals Game 1	ABC	9.0	14.85M
45	NBA	Spurs/Heat NBA Finals Game 3	ABC	9.0	14.78M
46	CBB	Kentucky/Michigan Elite Eight	CBS	8.9	14.64M
47	World Cup	Germany/USA Group stage	ESPN, UNI	N/A	14.16M
48	Oly.	Primetime (2/22)	NBC	7.8	13.28M
49	World Cup	Germany/Brazil Semifinal	ESPN, UNI	N/A	12.40M
50	NFL	NFL Draft Round 1	ESPN, NFLN	N/A	12.37M

(Ratings/viewership from various sources, including ESPN, Univision, NBC Sports, Sports Business Daily, Awful Announcing)

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Comments 10

John Smith says:

12 years ago

Yes, the chase is a little artificial perhaps. But if you didn’t find the ’11 Chase exciting, keeping in mind that it was only 3 years ago, you either don’t like racing or you don’t like Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards.

And as for the lucky dog, they just need to tweak it so that you get your lap back if your the first car a lap down on the track *behind the leader* (as that’s what they used to do ‘back in the day’ anyway…i.e. slow down…and you were a d*ck if you didn’t).

The empty seats…well…that’s a marketing issue. But just make sure you know it peaked in the 2000s, not the 90s, 80s, 70s, etc. It hasn’t changed *that* much since the 48 started stringing together championships.

Then again, motor sports may be played. F1’s having the same problem. Hell, spectator sports in general (except NFL, who can still charge what they want) are all struggling. Could be changing tastes, could be the fact that you can sit on your butt at home for free and get better coverage of sports in sparkling HD. And replays. And live pause.
- Brad Lawrence says:
  
  12 years ago
  
  Sorry John, I didn’t like the ’11 chase. I didn’t like any of the chases, and I especially hate this new format. I miss the days when all the races mattered the same. The title didn’t always come down to the final race or two, but so what. The most deserving team won the title. The team that did it all year, and all kinds of tracks.
Mikey1109 says:

12 years ago

I still say a big part of the problem is the rick hendrick/jimmy johnson show. Why bother watching when you know who is more than likely to win. It has been the same old lousy story 6 of the last 8 years.
- sbx2424 says:
  
  12 years ago
  
  I don’t attribute that to Rick Hendrick and Jimmy Johnson, I attributed it to NASCAR, they’re the ones came up with this ludicrous Chase. You really don’t even need to run 36 races. All you have to do is run the Chase… call it a season! The first 26 races you don’t even need to watch you just need to see if your guys going to make it in the top 12 or 20 or 30. I don’t know what they’ve expanded it to now!
  - Mikey1109 says:
    
    12 years ago
    
    I don’t think you can blame all of the championships on the chase format. Even before the chase started in 2004 hendrick won 5 of 9 championships (4 Gordon and one T Labonte) from 1995 to 2003. Granted that’s not as good as 6 out of 8 but they still won their share of championships.
  - Brad Lawrence says:
    
    12 years ago
    
    Agreed. The chase stinks and has robbed a lot of drama out of the season.
pamotorman says:

12 years ago

the reason no NASCAR races are here is because you can go out and sit by any interstate highway and see what you see in NASCAR. a parade of cars just following the leader. there is most likely more passing on the interstate. making all cars equal does not make for exciting racing.
- John Smith says:
  
  12 years ago
  
  Yes, and having 3 cars on the lead lap at the end of a race is so much more exciting. Hilarious how Dale Sr fans whine about the good ole days being gone since the good ole boys no longer win.
  - sbx2424 says:
    
    12 years ago
    
    It’s not possible to have only three cars on the lead lap anymore, they have that lucky dog, which every time they throw caution, people get their laps back. But the good old boys aren’t the only ones whining, just look at all the empty seats, but if those are the good old boys were showing up definitely damaging the sport.
  - pamotorman says:
    
    12 years ago
    
    my first race was darlington 1955 when we drove 2 55 chevys there to race and we did this till 1957 so I have been around a long time. NASCAR wants every car to have a chance to win so they keep coming back. it has kept the cars coming back but not the fans. racing is exciting when like dale sr. came from 16 th place in a couple of laps to win. racing is passing 2 or 3 cars at a time going into a turn not waiting till a driver to make a mistake.so you can pass. racing should be ingenuity in action and NASCAR allows no ingenuity.