Basketball ruled the Saturday sports ratings, led by the NBA and otherwise dominated by college basketball.
Saturday’s Celtics-Knicks NBA regular season game averaged a 1.3 rating and 2.22 million viewers on ABC, down 8% in ratings and 7% in viewership from Celtics-Sixers last year (1.4, 2.38M). Boston’s easy win still delivered the largest sports audience of the day.
College basketball took the next several spots, topped by Alabama-Kentucky on CBS at a 1.0 and 1.82 million — flat in ratings and up 4% in viewership from Auburn-Kentucky last year (1.0, 1.74M). CBS also drew a 0.8 and 1.30 million for Houston-Baylor — up more than 40% from UConn-St. John’s a year ago (0.57, 913K) — and a 0.6 (-11%) and 1.03 million (-13%) for Washington-Arizona.
On ESPN, North Carolina-Virginia led the way with a 0.8 and 1.47 million, flat and down 2% respectively from West Virginia-Kansas last year (0.8, 1.51M). The Tar Heels’ win was preceded by Duke-Wake Forest at a 0.7 (+23%) and 1.22 million (+18%). Viewership declined double-digits for the network’s four other windows, with Texas-Kansas at a 0.8 (-23%) and 1.40 million (-25%), Texas A&M-Tennessee at a 0.6 (-3%) and 961,000 (-11%), Notre Dame-Syracuse at a 0.33 (-48%) and 591,000 (-47%) and USC-UCLA at a 0.31 (-39%) and 577,000 (-38%).
Rounding out the men’s action, FOX had a 0.48 and 891,000 for its primetime Villanova-UConn game — down sharply from Indiana-Purdue a year ago (0.9, 1.73M) — and BTN a 0.33 and 549,000 for Iowa-Illinois.
Beyond the hardwood, FS1 averaged a 0.7 and 1.19 million for NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Atlanta, preceded by the Truck Series race there at a 0.54 and 914,000 — both up from last year’s Atlanta races (1.02M and 819K), which took place during the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. NBC chipped in a 0.7 and 1.07 million for third round coverage of the PGA Tour Mexico Open, down 22% and 28% respectively from last year’s late April edition (0.9, 1.40M). ABC scored a 0.51 and 957,000 for Rangers-Flyers and a 0.46 and 779,000 for Blues-Red Wings in an NHL doubleheader, both down from last year’s equivalent windows (Rangers-Capitals: 0.50, 896K; Penguins-Blues: 0.60, 1.02M).
In soccer, Liga MX scored a 0.39 and 972,000 on Univision, NBC and Universo combined for a 0.48 and 796,000 for Manchester City-Bournemouth in the Premier League, and FOX had a 0.18 and 284,000 for its Major League Soccer season opener (LAFC-Sounders).
Rounding out the day’s slate, BTN drew a 0.07 and 127,000 for the second half of the Big Ten “Big Five” women’s college gymnastics meet, considerably higher than the previous day’s 31,000.
Saturday, February 24 sports ratings
