The NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals topped a busy day of sports on Saturday, May 25.
Saturday’s Pacers-Celtics NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 3 averaged a 3.3 rating and 6.48 million viewers on ABC, about even with Celtics-Heat on TNT last year, but down 24% and 23% respectively from last year’s conference final game on ABC, Nuggets-Lakers Game 3 in the same Saturday night slot (4.3, 8.38M).
The Celtics’ win, the third of their four-game sweep, delivered the top sports audience of the day. For more on the NBA playoff numbers, see this article.
Placing a distant second, regional Major League Baseball on FOX averaged a 1.0 and 1.94 million — flat and up 8% respectively from Memorial Day weekend last year (1.0, 1.80M). The third round of the PGA Tour Fort Worth tournament ranked third at a 1.0 and 1.66 million, up from last year’s 0.8 and 1.27 million.
Shifting to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Game 2 of the Western Conference Final (Stars-Oilers) drew a combined 0.7 and 1.54 million across TNT (0.6, 1.46M) and truTV (0.02, 78K) — down 26% in ratings but just 5% in viewership from Stars-Golden Knights on ABC last year (0.9, 1.62M).
Further down the dial, track and field’s Prefontaine Classic from Eugene (Ore.) averaged a 0.7 and 1.17 million on NBC — up from a 0.6 and 977,000 two years ago, the last time the event took place in May. (Last year’s edition aired in September opposite pro and college football.)
NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Charlotte drew a 0.7 and 1.16 million on FOX, the largest audience for the race since 2016 (1.41M), with the caveat that it had not aired on “big FOX” since 2015 (1.9M). In other racing action, Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix qualifying drew a 0.38 and 727,000 on ESPN2.
The NCAA softball super regionals topped out at a 0.6 and 1.08 million for Alabama’s marathon win over Tennessee, the most-watched super regional game on record. ESPN’s full day of super regional action, which included abbreviated coverage of both Oklahoma State-Arizona and Texas-Texas A&M, averaged 836,000 over 12 hours.
In the UFL, ABC averaged a 0.6 and 1.07 million for Birmingham-San Antonio — edging D.C.-St. Louis the prior week as the most-watched game on ESPN/ABC this season — preceded by a 0.53 and 886,000 for St. Louis-Arlington.
NBA TV averaged a 0.16 and 333,000 for a matchup of Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever against the defending champion Aces — the largest WNBA audience ever on the network, which has been Nielsen-rated since 2010.
Rounding out the day’s slate, the Denver-Notre Dame NCAA men’s lacrosse semifinal had a 0.13 and 276,000 on ESPN2, followed by Maryland-Virginia at a 0.11 and 223,000 — both down from last year’s semifinals (Penn State-Duke: 313K; Notre Dame-Virginia: 323K).
ESPN2 also drew a 0.08 and 161,000 for the USC-Arizona Pac-12 baseball championship — the final event in the history of the Pac-12 conference — and a 0.08 and 143,000 for the Oklahoma State-Oklahoma Big 12 baseball final. Both games outdrew the competing Marlins-Diamondbacks Major League Baseball game on FS1, which had a 0.08 and 137,000.
Saturday, May 25 sports ratings
