A stirring comeback by LeBron James and the Lakers delivered the top sports audience of Wednesday, February 28.
Wednesday’s Lakers-Clippers NBA regular season game averaged 1.40 million viewers on ESPN, up 38% from Pelicans-Trail Blazers on the same night last year (1.02M) and the most-watched sportscast of the day. The Lakers’ comeback win was ESPN’s most-watched weeknight game in more than a month, since Nuggets-Celtics on January 19 (2.02M).
Earlier in the night, Pelicans-Pacers averaged 1.06 million, down 16% from Cavaliers-Celtics a year ago (1.26M). The full doubleheader averaged 1.23 million, up 8%.
In the competing early window on ESPN2, an Auburn-Tennessee men’s basketball game averaged 926,000 viewers — trailing only Arizona-Duke in November (1.19M) as the most-watched college game on ESPN2 all season. Viewership increased 23% from Auburn-Alabama a year ago (753K).
The Alabama-Mississippi lead-out averaged 542,000 (+14%). In other college action, BTN averaged 211,000 for a doubleheader of Minnesota-Illinois (292K) and Northwestern-Maryland (129K), down 13% from last year (241K). FS1 drew 178,000 for Seton Hall-Creighton, preceded by Providence-Marquette at 169,000 and followed by Oregon State-Oregon at 116,000.
Moving beyond the hardwood, TNT averaged 281,000 for a Blues-Oilers NHL regular season game — up slightly from last year’s comparable doubleheader (280K), which consisted of Rangers-Flyers (318K) and Hurricanes-Golden Knights (243K).
Further down the dial, MLB Network averaged 123,000 for a Braves-Phillies Spring Training game.
Wednesday, February 28 sports ratings
Updated chart:
Original chart below:
