College basketball topped the Monday sports ratings once again.
A North Carolina-Miami men’s college basketball game was the most-watched sporting event of Monday, February 26, with 1.15 million viewers on ESPN — up 36% from the Tar Heels against Florida State last year (844K). Baylor-TCU led out with 797,000, placing second for the night and up 32% from the Bears against Oklahoma State last year (603K).
On ESPN2, West Virginia-Kansas State drew 291,000 — down from West Virginia-Iowa State in a later window last year (464K). A Colorado-UCLA women’s game followed at 125,000, down from Baylor-Texas in an earlier window a year ago (162K).
Beyond the hardwood, the latest edition of the made-for-TV golf competition “The Match” averaged a combined 511,000 viewers across TNT (390K), truTV (74K) and HLN (47K) — easily the least-watched of the eight total contests on Nielsen-rated television. This year’s edition featured golfers Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Rose Zhang and Lexi Thompson.
Viewership declined 34% from the previous low set by the previous edition last May, which pit Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce of the NFL Chiefs against Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson of the NBA Warriors (773K).
Further down the dial, NBA TV averaged 388,000 for a Heat-Kings NBA regular season game, preceded by Raptors-Pacers at 258,000. The network carried one game on the same night last season, Heat-Sixers at 358,000.
A Brentford-West Ham English Premier League match drew 255,000 on USA, and the United States women’s national team’s loss to Mexico had 160,000 on ESPN Deportes (English-language coverage aired on Paramount+, which is not Nielsen-rated). MLB Network drew 174,000 for Twins-Yankees and 114,000 for Angels-Giants in Spring Training action.
Monday, February 26 sports ratings
Updated chart below:
Original chart below, including WWE Raw:
