Facing the Olympics and shortened due to weather, the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Game unsurprisingly hit a viewership low. Plus: sports ratings form last weekend, including MLB, Formula 1 and the PGA Tour.
Abbreviated Hall of Fame Game unsurprisingly down
Thursday’s abbreviated Texans-Bears NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, which was halted in the third quarter due to weather and did not resume, averaged 5.2 million viewers across ESPN and ABC — down from Jets-Browns on NBC last year (6.0M). Given the weather and the Olympic competition, it should be no surprise that viewership was the lowest for the event since Saints-Cardinals drew 2.0 million on NFL Network in 2012, another Olympic year.
The last time the Hall of Fame Game faced the Olympics — three years ago — viewership topped seven million on FOX, but the game featured the Cowboys that year.
Yankees-Red Sox boosts ESPN despite Olympics
Despite facing the Olympics, last weekend’s Yankees-Red Sox Major League Baseball game averaged 1.71 million viewers on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball — including a Statcast alternate presentation on ESPN — up 5% from Yankees-Orioles last year (1.67M).
On FOX the prior night, coverage featuring the same matchup averaged 2.07 million — down 22% from a year ago (2.65M).
In other MLB action, TBS drew 577,000 for Yankees-Phillies on Tuesday night — up 81% from Rays-Yankees last year (319K) and the second-most watched game on the network this season. TBS is now averaging 372,000 viewers for MLB this season, up 4% from the same point last year and up 22% from 2022.
F1 Belgian GP slips from last year’s record
Last Sunday’s Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix averaged 1.12 million viewers on ESPN, down from last year’s record high (1.2M) but still the second-largest audience on record for the race. Lewis Hamilton’s win, which peaked with 1.2 million in the 10:15 AM ET quarter-hour, was just the second of the past nine F1 races to decline.
Olympics sinks PGA Tour at Twin Cities
Final round coverage of the PGA Tour from Minnesota averaged 1.32 million viewers on CBS last Sunday, with third round action at 722,000 — down 21% and 50% respectively from last year (1.67M; 1.44M). As is no surprise given the Olympic competition, the telecasts were the least-watched third and final rounds in the short history of the the tournament (dates back to 2019).
