A modest increase for the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs; a softer outing for MLB on FOX; multi-year highs for NCAA softball and men’s lacrosse.
Stanley Cup opening round up, if on the low side
The opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs averaged 642,000 viewers on the NBC Sports family of networks, per Sports Business Journal, up from 6% from last year’s months-delayed late summer postseason (605K) but the second-smallest opening round figure since 2013.
Viewership declined 17% from the 2019 postseason, the most recent to begin as scheduled in April (778K).
This year’s opening round included two game sevens, with last Friday’s Wild-Golden Knights Game 7 averaging 998,000 viewers on NBCSN. Figures were not available for Monday’s Canadiens-Maple Leafs Game 7 on CNBC. There were no first round game sevens last year, but in 2019 Hurricanes-Capitals averaged 1.64 million, Maple Leafs-Bruins 1.30 million and Golden Knights-Sharks 1.07 million. [Sports Business Journal 6.4, Spoiler TV 6.3]
Softer outing for MLB on FOX, but third-best audience of season
Regional Major League Baseball action on FOX (Dodgers-Giants or Braves-Mets in most markets) averaged 1.93 million viewers last Saturday, down 14% from the network’s comparable 2019 window (2.24M). The telecast ranks third for the season in viewership behind the previous week’s FOX season opener (2.59M) and a Padres-Dodgers Sunday Night Baseball game on ESPN and ESPN2 in April (2.01M).
There was no Sunday night game this week as Braves-Mets was postponed due to weather. Figures for recent weeknight MLB games were not immediately available. [Fox Sports]
Multi-year highs for NCAA softball tourney
Thursday’s first day of the Women’s College World Series averaged 755,000 viewers on ESPN, the event’s largest opening day audience since 2009. Arizona-Alabama pulled 943,000 to rank as the fourth-most watched opening day game on record.
Leading into the WCWS, last week’s Super Regionals averaged 516,000 viewers — the highest average for the round since 2012. That includes 901,000 for last Saturday’s Washington-Oklahoma game on ABC, the second-most watched Super Regional game in a decade. [ESPN PR/Twitter 6.2, 6.4]
NCAA men’s lacrosse final hits high
The Virginia-Maryland NCAA men’s lacrosse national championship averaged 399,000 viewers on ESPN2 Memorial Day, up 35% from the last time it was held in 2019 (Virginia-Yale: 296K) and the largest audience for the event since 2017. Semifinal games averaged 284,000 (+39%), the largest audience since 2013. [ESPN PR/Twitter 6.2]
