Ratings: Pro Bowl, Lakers-Celtics, Torrey Pines and more

Sunday’s NFL Pro Bowl Celebration — a two-hour special that aired in lieu of the canceled Pro Bowl — averaged a 1.2 rating and 1.84 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and Disney XD. Not surprisingly, that figure is no match for the 4.9 and 7.97 million for last year’s actual Pro Bowl game on ABC and ESPN.

To put the numbers in perspective, the Pro Bowl Celebration drew a larger audience than the Heisman Trophy Presentation earlier in January, though that aired on ESPN alone (1.52M). It averaged fewer viewers than last year’s primetime NFL Honors on FOX (2.82M).

Over on NFL Network, the “Madden” Pro Bowl simulation averaged 150,000 Sunday evening and Monday’s virtual Super Bowl Opening Night averaged 155,000 (-28%).

Lakers-Celtics averaged a 1.6 rating and 2.74 million viewers on the season premiere of ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime, up 45% in ratings and 65% in viewership from the same weekend last year (2/1/20 Sixers-Celtics: 1.1, 1.66M), but down 15% and 6% respectively from the first Saturday Primetime game last season, which aired two weeks earlier (1/18/20 Lakers-Rockets: 1.9, 2.92M).

Viewership peaked at 3.45 million. The Lakers and Celtics’ meeting on ABC last season — a Sunday afternoon game in mid-February — averaged a 2.3 and 3.59 million.

In other action, ESPN averaged a 0.7 and 1.18 million for Mavericks-Jazz and a 0.7 and 1.13 million for Bucks-Pelicans on Friday night. Both games were down double-digits from the comparable Friday night last year, when ESPN aired the Lakers’ first game after the passing of Kobe Bryant.

Sunday’s final round of the PGA Tour at Torrey Pines averaged a 1.95 rating and 3.12 million viewers on CBS, down 9% in ratings and 4% in viewership from last year, when coverage faced both the Pro Bowl and breaking news (2.1, 3.25M), but still the most-watched sportscast of the weekend.

Third round coverage on Saturday pulled a 1.3 (-28%) and 2.03 million (-23%). Lead-in coverage on Golf Channel had a 0.42 (-9%) and 640,000 (-1%) on Saturday and a 0.52 (-12%) and 810,000 (-8%) on Sunday.

Saturday’s Manchester United-Arsenal English Premier League match averaged a 0.75 rating and 1.16 million viewers on NBC, rising to 1.56 million including streaming and Spanish-language viewership — the largest EPL audience since the Manchester Derby last March (1.78M). … The latest edition of Premier Boxing Champions on FOX averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.61 million viewers Saturday night, the largest boxing audience on any network since a PBC card on FOX in December 2019 (1.65M). … Saturday’s college football Senior Bowl averaged a 0.43 and 652,000 on NFL Network, up 13% and 11% respectively from last year (0.38, 590K). … NBC’s portion of the 24 Hours of Daytona auto race drew a 0.7 and 1.23 million on Sunday, flat and up 24% respectively from the network’s window last year (0.7, 994K).