The North Carolina-Duke rivalry topped the sports ratings charts for Saturday, March 9.
Saturday’s North Carolina-Duke men’s college basketball game averaged a 1.5 rating and 3.08 million viewers on ESPN, trailing only their previous matchup last month (1.3, 2.63M) and a Michigan State-Arizona game on FOX Thanksgiving Day (2.0, 5.18M) as the most-watched game of the men’s college basketball season. (Including women’s games, it ranks fourth.)
The Tar Heels’ win increased 11% in ratings and 17% in viewership from the teams’ second meeting last season.
College basketball took the top two spots Saturday, with CBS placing second at a 1.4 and 2.61 million for Kentucky-Tennessee — the network’s most-watched men’s game this season. (Sunday’s Iowa-Nebraska Big Ten women’s tournament final holds the network’s top spot overall, as noted previously.)
Shifting to the pro game, ABC averaged a 1.4 and 2.40 million for Celtics-Suns on NBA Saturday Primetime — down 10% in ratings and 9% in viewership from Bucks-Warriors on the same night last year (1.5, 2.65M).
Beyond the hardwood, third round coverage of the PGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational averaged a 1.1 and 1.76 million on NBC, down 21% in ratings and 23% in viewership from last year (1.4, 2.27M) and the least-watched third round of the tournament since 2017 (1.6M). LIV Golf on CW averaged a 0.11 and 148,000.
UFC 299 prelims rounded out Saturday’s top five with a 0.8 and 1.48 million on ESPN, the largest single-network UFC audience since UFC 272 prelims in the same post Duke-UNC window two years ago (1.53M).
Returning to college hoops, ESPN led into Duke-North Carolina with a 0.7 and 1.19 million for Kansas-Houston. That was preceded by Oklahoma-Texas at a 0.6 and 1.00 million and Arkansas-Alabama at a 0.7 and 1.27 million. CBS drew a 0.6 and 1.02 million for Texas A&M-Mississippi, preceded by Memphis-FAU at a 0.6 and 922,000. FOX had a quiet day, topping out at a 0.47 and 886,000 for Creighton-Villanova.
As previously noted, the Iowa-Michigan Big Ten women’s tournament semifinal averaged a 0.6 and 1.08 million on Big Ten Network — up 183% in viewership from Iowa-Maryland last year (380K) and the most-watched women’s sporting event ever on BTN. The other semifinal, Nebraska-Maryland, was far behind at a 0.21 and 357,000 — but that was still up 61% from Ohio State-Indiana last year (222K).
In other semifinal action, the LSU-Mississippi SEC Tournament semifinal averaged a 0.19 and 306,000 on ESPNU, preceded by Tennessee-South Carolina at a 0.14 and 221,000 — easily the two most-watched college basketball games on the little-watched network this season. Both semifinals outdrew the competing men’s games on ESPN2, Baylor-Texas Tech (0.17, 293K) and Miami-Florida State (0.12, 195K).
Shifting to motorsports, NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Phoenix averaged a 0.6 and 1.09 million on FS1 — up from a 0.6 and 1.03 million last year — and the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix drew a 0.51 and 920,000 on ESPN2, down sharply from last year’s 0.7 and 1.52 million for a Sunday morning race on ESPN.
In the NHL, a Penguins-Bruins regular season game combined to average a 0.65 and 1.16 million across ABC (0.58, 997K) and the “Big City Greens” alternate presentation on Disney (0.06, 125K) and DisneyXD (0.02, 39K) — up from Flyers-Penguins on ABC alone last year (0.59, 1.04M). Hurricanes-Devils led in at a 0.39 and 637,000, down sharply from last year’s Red Wings-Bruins game (0.66, 1.14M).
Leading out of the aforementioned Iowa-Nebraska women’s basketball semifinal, Big Ten wrestling semifinals averaged a 0.12 and 212,000 on BTN — actually down from last year’s 236,000. Coverage leading into basketball earlier in the day averaged a 0.08 and 127,000.
Saturday, March 9 sports ratings
