The NFL Pro Bowl Games dominated the rest of the Sunday sports lineup, while LIV Golf benefited from a PGA Tour washout.
As previously noted, the NFL Pro Bowl Games combined to average a 3.1 rating and 5.79 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, DisneyXD and ESPN Deportes, the smallest audience on record for the All-Star event. The exhibition still delivered the largest sports audience of the day — and week. A re-air of the Thursday Pro Bowl Skills Challenge averaged a 0.45 and 785,000 on ESPN earlier in the day.
Placing second for Sunday, a Purdue-Wisconsin men’s college basketball game averaged a 1.2 and 2.23 million on CBS — the fourth-largest audience of the college basketball season behind Duke-North Carolina the previous day (1.6, 3.20M), North Carolina-Kentucky in the December CBS Sports Classic (1.3, 2.40M) and an NFL-fueled Michigan State-Arizona game on FOX Thanksgiving Day (2.0, 5.18M).
Later in the day, Nebraska-Illinois drew a 0.33 and 655,000 on BTN, the network’s largest audience of the season and more-than-double Northwestern-Wisconsin last year (252K). The previous high was 514,000 for Maryland-Illinois last month. Elsewhere, FS1 drew a 0.16 and 308,000 for Stanford-Arizona and a 0.09 and 149,000 for Providence-Villanova.
In women’s action, Mississippi-South Carolina women’s game drew a 0.27 and 428,000 on ESPN2, up 93% and 86% respectively from LSU-Texas A&M in the same window last year (0.14, 230K). Virginia Tech-North Carolina led-in at a 0.17 and 282,000 (+94%) and UCLA-Stanford led out with a 0.19 (+19%) and 303,000 (+15%). FS1 drew a 0.13 and 215,000 for Indiana-Ohio State — up 44% from a DePaul-Seton Hall men’s game last year (149K) — followed by Kansas State-Texas at a 0.08 and 137,000 (-12%). The CW drew a mere 0.07 and 112,000 for Miami-FSU.
Shifting to the pros, ESPN averaged a 0.8 and 1.49 million for a Clippers-Heat NBA regular season game, down 11% and 15% respectively from Sixers-Knicks in the same post-Pro Bowl window last year (0.9, 1.75M). On NBA TV, Suns-Wizards drew a 0.13 and 231,000 and Blazers-Nuggets a 0.22 and 452,000 later in the night.
The NBA led into the “Pickleball Slam” — which included former tennis stars Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf and John McEnroe — at a 0.35 and 596,000, down form the inaugural edition of the event last April (669K).
In other action, CBS averaged a 0.7 and 1.21 million for rainout coverage of the PGA Tour at Pebble Beach. The final round was postponed, and eventually canceled, due to inclement weather. With no live PGA Tour event taking place Sunday, LIV Golf averaged a 0.25 and 432,000 on The CW — the largest audience yet for the series. The previous high was 280,000 for the final round of last year’s London tournament, the first to air on linear television.
Track and field’s Indoor Grand Prix averaged a 0.8 and 1.20 million on NBC, up from last year’s 0.57 and 866,000, preceded by four hours of taped figure skating at a 0.58 and 956,000. Further down the list, CBS averaged a 0.6 and 971,000 for PBR bull riding from Sacramento (down from last year’s 0.7 and 1.07 million) and FOX a 0.46 and 762,000 for the PBA bowling US Open finals (down from last year’s 0.6 and 1.01 million). The 2026 FIFA World Cup schedule reveal drew a 0.19 and 305,000 on FOX.
Not making the below list, a Michigan State-Michigan women’s college gymnastics meet averaged 75,000 on BTN, preceded by a wrestling doubleheader of Northwestern-Minnesota at 52,000 and Michigan State-Indiana at 45,000. A Mexico-Dominican Republic Carribean World Series game drew 62,000 on ESPN Deportes.
Sunday, February 4 sports ratings
