Ratings: Racing, MLS, NHL and more

Last Sunday’s IndyCar Series opener from St. Petersburg averaged a 0.9 rating and 1.41 million viewers on NBC, marking the largest audience for any IndyCar race — outside of the Indy 500 — since the 2011 season opener at the same track (1.84M). Viewership increased 53% from last year’s season opener from Alabama (932K) and 15% from last year’s St. Petersburg race (1.25M), both of which were run in April. Last year’s numbers include revised, corrected out-of-home viewing.

In other racing action, the NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 from Fontana (Ca.) averaged a 2.6 and 4.57 million on FOX last Sunday, down 10% in ratings and 5% in viewership from the last time it was run two years ago (2.9, 4.79M). Compared to last year’s second race of the season — the Daytona “Roval” — ratings fell 7% (from 2.8) and viewership 5% (from 4.8M). (Last year’s figure includes revised, corrected out-of-home data.)

The race, which peaked with 5.5 million viewers, was the top sportscast of the week.

The Xfinity Series at Fontana pulled a 0.8 and 1.37 million last Saturday, flat in ratings compared to last year’s equivalent race on the Daytona road course (0.8, 1.27M pending revision). The previous week’s season opener from Daytona had a 0.9 and 1.48 million, also flat compared to last year (0.9, 1.61M pending revision).

Last Saturday’s Portland-New England Major League Soccer Opening Day match averaged a 0.25 and 436,000 on FOX in primetime, not only trailing a Watford-Manchester United Premier League match on USA Network earlier in the day (0.27, 477K) but also trailing two midweek afternoon UEFA Champions League matches on CBS (Atletico Madrid-Manchester United: 856K; Chelsea-LOSC Lille: 777K).

Ratings actually increased slightly from last year’s LAFC-Austin opener on FOX (0.24), though viewership declined by at least 10% (Nielsen initially estimated 485,000 viewers for last year’s match, and that figure will only rise with corrected out-of-home data).

In other action, ESPN averaged just 190,000 for Galaxy-NYCFC last Sunday and FS1 pulled 174,000 for Atlanta-Kansas City.

TNT averaged a 0.26 rating and 634,000 for last Saturday’s Lightning-Predators NHL Stadium Series outdoor game, marking the least-watched U.S.-based outdoor game since Ducks-Kings on NBCSN eight years ago (622K). Despite the low, it was TNT’s most-watched game since the Winter Classic. Earlier in the day, Rangers-Penguins averaged a 0.6 and 1.05 million in the season debut of ABC Hockey Saturday, marking just the third game this NHL season to crack the million viewer mark.

In other action, ESPN drew 400,000 viewers for Bruins-Golden Knights this past Thursday and a 0.26 and 485,000 for Capitals-Rangers the week prior. TNT drew 485,000 for Blues-Rangers and 240,000 for Predators-Kraken this past Wednesday, both up from the previous week’s doubleheader of Oilers-Lightning (316K) and Kings-Coyotes (151K).

Final round coverage of the PGA Tour Honda Classic averaged a 1.5 rating and 2.57 million viewers on NBC, tying the second-lowest final round rating for the event in at least 25 years. Third round coverage the previous day had a 1.0 and 1.62 million. The previous week’s Los Angeles Open on CBS turned in a 1.3 and 2.13 million on February 19 and a 1.6 and 2.62 million on February 20, the latter tying as the lowest rated final round of the event in at least 25 years. … Last Saturday’s Kentucky-Arkansas men’s college basketball game averaged a 1.4 and 2.36 million on CBS, marking the third-largest audience of the season behind Gonzaga-Duke on ESPN in November (2.79M) and Kentucky-Auburn on CBS in January (2.48M). … Coverage of gymnastics’ Winter Cup averaged a 0.43 rating and 715,000 viewers on NBC, down 25% in ratings and at least 23% in viewership from last year (0.57, 933K pending revision).