With no Triple Crown at stake and the Kentucky Derby winner sidelined, ratings for The Belmont Stakes were unsurprisingly low.
The race portion of The Belmont Stakes earned a 3.7 final rating and 5.8 million viewers on NBC Saturday evening, down 18% in ratings and 17% in viewership from 2013 (4.5, 7.0M) and down 23% and 25%, respectively, from 2012 (4.8, 7.7M), the last two years there was no Triple Crown at stake.
American Pharoah‘s Triple Crown run in last year’s Belmont had an 11.2 and 18.6 million viewers. California Chrome‘s near miss in 2014 had an 11.9 and 20.5 million.
This year’s Belmont ranks as the lowest rated and least-watched since 2010 (3.0, 4.7M), which featured neither the Derby nor Preakness winners and aired on lame duck broadcaster ABC. In the past 20 years, the Belmont has earned a lower rating on only four other occasions — 2007 (3.2), 2006 (3.5), 2000 (3.1) and 1996 (3.1), all on ABC.
For NBC, it was the lowest rated Triple Crown race ever on the network (43 telecasts dating back to 2001) — falling below the previous mark of 4.3 for the 2011 Belmont.
Though low overall, Saturday’s race ranks as the second-highest rated Belmont Stakes since at least 1996 that did not involve the Kentucky Derby winner. The 2012 race, in which Derby and Preakness winner I’ll Have Another was scratched the day before his Triple Crown run, holds the top spot with a 4.8.
(Sat. numbers from NBC Sports)
