The NHL Stadium Series delivered in the overnight ratings. Also: overnights fell for NBA Saturday Primetime, NASCAR’s Cup Series, and the PGA Tour.
Five-year high for Stadium Series
Saturday’s Penguins-Flyers NHL Stadium Series game earned a 1.4 overnight rating on NBC, up 56% from last year’s Stadium Series game, which took place in March (Maple Leafs-Capitals: 0.9), and up 17% from the same Stadium Series matchup in 2017 (Flyers-Penguins: 1.2).
The 1.4 overnight is the highest of the NHL season outside of the Winter Classic, topping even the All-Star Game on NBC in January (1.3). It is also the highest for a Stadium Series game in five years, since Penguins-Blackhawks on NBC in 2014 (2.1).
Locally, the game had a 16.9 rating in Pittsburgh and a 6.3 in Philadelphia, both regular season records.
Rockets-Warriors down; Rockets-Lakers up
Rockets-Warriors scored a 2.6 overnight rating on ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime over the weekend, down 10% from last year (Thunder-Warriors: 2.9) but up 37% from 2017 (Bulls-Cavaliers: 1.9).
In other action, Thursday’s Rockets-Lakers game scored 2.24 million viewers on TNT — up 40% from last year (Clippers-Warriors: 1.60M), but down 14% from 2017 (Clippers-Warriors: 2.60M). Earlier in the night, Celtics-Bucks had 1.91 million (-8%). Ratings were not immediately available.
Figures for Friday’s ESPN doubleheader were not immediately available.
NASCAR Atlanta overnights slip
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race from Atlanta earned a 3.0 overnight rating on FOX, down a tick from last year (3.1) and down 17% from 2017 (3.6). The 3.0 is tied as the lowest for the race, which until 2015 aired on ESPN over Labor Day weekend, since at least 2010.
Tiger’s top ten finish falls short of Phil’s 2018 win
Final round coverage of the PGA Tour/WGC Mexico Championship earned a 2.8 overnight rating on NBC, down a tick from last year, when Phil Mickelson won (2.9), but up 17% from 2017 (2.4). Tiger Woods, playing the event for the first time since 2014, when it was still held at Doral, finished in a tie for tenth.
Third round coverage on Saturday had a 2.1 overnight, up 31% from last year (1.6) and up 11% from 2017 (1.6).
[Numbers from NBC Sports PR/Twitter 2.24, Sports Business Daily 2.25]










