The NBA Western Conference Finals and NHL Eastern Conference Final topped the sports viewership charts for Wednesday, May 22.
Wednesday’s Mavericks-Timberwolves NBA Western Conference Finals Game 1 averaged 7.02 million viewers across TNT (6.82M) and truTV (198K), trailing only Lakers-Nuggets on ESPN and ESPN2 last year (7.36M) as the most-watched conference final opener in the past five years.
The Mavericks’ win also ranks as the most-watched conference final opener on TNT Sports since 2018. For more on viewership for the game, see this link.
In other conference final action, Panthers-Rangers opened the NHL Eastern Conference Final with 1.98 million viewers on ESPN — up 39% from Panthers-Hurricanes on TNT last year (1.43M) and the second-largest audience for a conference final opener since 2019.
Compared to the Rangers’ previous conference final — against Tampa Bay two years ago — viewership declined 16% from 2.36 million.
Further down the dial, MLB Network scored 158,000 for a primetime regional Major League Baseball window, followed by 154,000 for late night action. An afternoon matinee opened the day with 114,000.
In college baseball, Purdue-Nebraska topped the day in conference tournament action with 34,000 on BTN.
Elsewhere in college sports, the NCAA women’s golf team national championship averaged 58,000 on Golf Channel, down nearly half from last year’s 108,000.
The FS1 talk show “Undisputed” clocked in below the 50,000 mark, averaging 49,000.
Wednesday, May 22 sports ratings
Updated chart:
Original chart below:
