With Gonzaga’s undefeated run on the line, the WCC Tournament ended with its largest audience in four years. Plus: the NBA scored a pair of increases in its first doubleheader since the All-Star break; “Hockey Day” in America was a weak draw; and more.
Gonzaga-BYU top WCC Tournament game in four years
Tuesday’s Gonzaga-BYU West Coast Conference Tournament final averaged 1.21 million viewers on ESPN, up 31% from last year (Gonzaga-St. Mary’s: 924K) and the largest audience for the tournament since the 2017 final (Gonzaga-BYU: 1.42M). The Bulldogs’ comeback win ranks as the most-watched game of Championship Week thus far.
In other action, Thursday’s North Carolina-Virginia Tech ACC Tournament quarterfinal averaged 1.07 million on ESPN — down 56% from the late quarterfinal game two years ago, Syracuse-Duke in a later timeslot (2.45M). Last year’s tournament was canceled before the quarterfinals.
NBA up in return from All-Star break
Thursday’s Warriors-Clippers NBA regular season game, in which Los Angeles led by as many as 39 points in the third quarter, averaged 1.25 million viewers on TNT — up 34% from Mavericks-Nuggets on the comparable night in 2019 (931K). There were no comparable games last year as the NBA season had been suspended.
Earlier in the night, Celtics-Nets drew 1.15 million — up 6% from Lakers-Raptors in ’19 (1.09M).
Quiet “Hockey Day” for NBC
Sabres-Islanders, part of the NHL’s “Hockey Day in America,” averaged just a 0.45 rating and 717,000 viewers on NBC last Sunday — easily the network’s lowest rated and least-watched “Hockey Day” game. The subsequent three games on NBCSN drew a mere 0.22 and 357,000 (Lightning-Blackhawks), 0.17 and 317,000 (Devils-Bruins) and 0.15 and 251,000 (Rangers-Penguins). The latter of the three declined 50% in ratings and 54% in viewership from the same window last year (Blues-Blackhawks: 0.30, 549K).
Shifting to the workweek, Golden Knights-Wild drew 356,000 viewers on NBCSN Wednesday — up 21% from Sharks-Blackhawks last year (294K). The Kings-Ducks nightcap had 124,000. On Tuesday, Rangers-Penguins scored 221,000 (+4%) and Blackhawks-Stars 179,000.
Plus: The Players, Bundesliga, UFC
Golf Channel averaged 869,000 viewers for Thursday’s opening round of the Players Championship, up 34% from last year, when the tournament lasted only one day before being canceled (649K), but down 4% from 2019 (907K). … ABC’s first Bundesliga match — Bayern Munich-Dortmund last Saturday — delivered the league’s largest U.S. TV audience (576K) since FOX averaged 926,000 for a tape-delayed, NFL-adjacent window in 2015. … UFC 259 prelims averaged a 0.6 rating and 1.21 million viewers on ESPN last Saturday night, down a tick in ratings but up 1% in viewership compared to UFC 248 prelims on the same weekend last year (0.7, 1.20M).
