In down years for both, the NFL and the Olympic Games dominated the list of last year’s most-watched sporting events. [Click here to jump straight to the main list, here for the list with the NFL and Olympics excluded, and here for a list of the most-watched events by sport and network.]
NFL games accounted for 33 of the 50 most-watched sporting events in 2016, led as usual by the Super Bowl. In 2015, NFL games made up 43 of the top 50, but that was not an Olympic year. The Rio Olympics took up 12 spots on this year’s list, topped by the fourth night of competition, which featured Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles winning gold medals. Combined, the events took up 45 of the top 50.
As for the remaining five, three were taken by the World Series — an event that did not even crack the top 50 in 2015. The Cubs’ Game 7 win led the way with a whopping 21.8 rating and 40.0 million viewers, the largest audience for any sporting event outside of the NFL or the Olympics since 1991. It ranked 5th for the year, with Game 5 of the series 38th (13.1, 23.6M) and Game 6 40th (13.3, 23.4M).
Game 7 of the NBA Finals made the chart at #15, with a 15.8 and 31.0 million viewers — the highest rated NBA game since 1998 and the most-watched basketball game of any kind over that same span. Finally, the Alabama/Clemson college football championship ranked 26th with a 15.0 and 26.2 million.
With the NFL and Olympics excluded, the World Series and NBA Playoffs delivered 15 of the 20 largest sports audiences in 2016 — the lone exceptions being Alabama/Clemson (#3), the New Year’s Eve College Football Playoff semifinals (#9 and #10), the Villanova/North Carolina college basketball championship (#13), and Michigan/Ohio State in college football’s regular season (#16). The top horse racing event was 19th, the top golf telecast 22nd, and the top NASCAR race 25th.
| MOST-WATCHED SPORTING EVENTS OF 2016 Information obtained from various sources, including ShowBuzz Daily, Sports Business Daily and network PR depts. |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Sport | Game | Rtg. | Vwrs. | Net |
| 1 | NFL | Broncos/Panthers Super Bowl 50 |
46.6 | 111.86M | CBS |
| 2 | NFL | Patriots/Broncos AFC Championship |
29.3 | 53.30M | CBS |
| 3 | NFL | Cardinals/Panthers NFC Championship |
24.1 | 45.74M | FOX |
| 4 | NFL | Steelers/Broncos AFC Divisional |
23.6 | 42.95M | CBS |
| 5 | MLB | Cubs/Indians World Series Game 7 |
21.8 | 40.05M | FOX |
| Most-watched MLB telecast since 1991 | |||||
| 6 | NFL | Packers/Washington NFC Wild Card |
21.8 | 38.85M | FOX |
| 7 | NFL | Seahawks/Panthers NFC Divisional |
21.1 | 36.70M | FOX |
| 8 | NFL | Seahawks/Vikings NFC Wild Card |
21.0 | 35.30M | NBC |
| 9 | NFL | Washington/Cowboys Thanksgiving Special |
14.5 | 35.11M | FOX |
| Most-watched reg. season NFL game since 1995 | |||||
| 10 | NFL | Packers/Cardinals NFC Divisional |
18.8 | 33.73M | NBC |
| 11 | OLY | Primetime coverage Night 4 |
18.9 | 33.44M | NBC |
| 12 | NFL | Chiefs/Patriots AFC Divisional |
18.1 | 31.50M | CBS |
| 13 | NFL | Steelers/Bengals AFC Wild Card |
17.5 | 31.23M | CBS |
| 14 | OLY | Primetime coverage Night 6 |
17.8 | 31.22M | NBC |
| 15 | NBA | Cavaliers/Warriors NBA Finals Game 7 |
15.8 | 31.02M | ABC |
| Most-watched NBA game since 1998 | |||||
| 16 | OLY | Primetime coverage Night 2 |
16.1 | 29.78M | NBC |
| 17 | NFL | Cowboys/Steelers (92%) Week 10 Nat’l Window |
16.4 | 28.88M | FOX |
| 18 | OLY | Primetime coverage Night 3 |
16.4 | 28.86M | NBC |
| 19 | NFL | Cowboys/Packers (86%) Week 6 Nat’l Window |
15.8 | 28.01M | FOX |
| 20 | NFL | Vikings/Lions Thanksgiving Special |
13.0 | 27.61M | CBS |
| 21 | NFL | Giants/Cowboys (90%) Week 1 Nat’l Window |
15.5 | 27.53M | FOX |
| 22 | OLY | Primetime coverage Night 9 |
14.9 | 26.75M | NBC |
| 23 | NFL | Cowboys/Giants Week 14 SNF |
14.9 | 26.50M | NBC |
| 24 | OLY | Primetime coverage Opening Ceremony |
13.9 | 26.49M | NBC |
| Least-watched opening ceremony since 2006 | |||||
| 25 | OLY | Primetime coverage Night 5 |
15.1 | 26.45M | NBC |
| 26 | CFB | Alabama/Clemson Nat’l Championship |
15.0 | 26.18M | ESPN Megacast |
| 27 | OLY | Primetime coverage Night 8 |
14.2 | 25.52M | NBC |
| 28 | NFL | Chiefs/Texans AFC Wild Card |
14.8 | 25.42M | ABC, ESPN |
| 29 | NFL | Giants/Steelers (85%) Week 13 Nat’l Window |
14.6 | 25.41M | FOX |
| 30 | NFL | Seahawks/Packers (67%) Week 14 Nat’l Window |
14.4 | 25.26M | FOX |
| 31 | NFL | Panthers/Broncos Week 1 Kickoff |
14.6 | 25.19M | NBC |
| 32 | NFL | Patriots/Broncos (83%) Week 15 Nat’l Window |
14.3 | 24.99M | CBS |
| 33 | NFL | Eagles/Seahawks (78%) Week 11 Nat’l Window |
13.6 | 24.36M | CBS |
| 34 | NFL | Vikings/Packers 2015-16 Week 17 SNF |
13.8 | 24.29M | NBC |
| 35 | OLY | Primetime coverage Night 10 |
14.1 | 24.27M | NBC |
| 36 | NFL | Buccaneers/Cowboys Week 15 SNF |
13.6 | 24.15M | NBC |
| 37 | OLY | Primetime coverage Night 11 |
14.3 | 24.14M | NBC |
| 38 | OLY | Primetime coverage Night 7 |
13.7 | 24.02M | NBC |
| 39 | MLB | Indians/Cubs World Series Game 5 |
13.1 | 23.64M | FOX |
| 40 | NFL | Panthers/Raiders (63%) Week 12 Nat’l Window |
13.2 | 23.50M | CBS |
| 41 | MLB | Cubs/Indians World Series Game 6 |
13.3 | 23.40M | FOX |
| 42 | NFL | Patriots/Cardinals Week 1 SNF |
13.1 | 23.08M | NBC |
| 43 | NFL | Packers/Vikings Week 2 SNF |
12.7 | 22.75M | NBC |
| 44 | NFL | Packers/Falcons Week 8 Nat’l Window |
13.1 | 22.74M | FOX |
| 45 | NFL | Cowboys/49ers (84%) Week 4 Nat’l Window |
13.1 | 22.70M | FOX |
| 46 | NFL | Patriots/Seahawks Week 10 SNF |
12.7 | 22.51M | NBC |
| 47 | NFL | Steelers/Eagles (52%) Week 3 Nat’l Window |
12.6 | 22.00M | CBS |
| 48 | NFL | Cowboys/Vikings Week 13 TNF |
12.8 | 21.80M | NBC, NFLN |
| 49 | OLY | Primetime coverage Night 13 |
12.8 | 21.70M | NBC |
| 50 | NFL | Patriots/Steelers Week 7 Nat’l Window |
12.6 | 21.68M | CBS |
