The opening weekend of the 2013 Major League Soccer season had mixed results on ESPN and NBC Sports Network last week. In other news, CBS had mixed results of its own for college basketball last weekend, and NBC earned one of its best NHL regular season ratings thanks to the Blackhawks’ points streak.
Viewership Mixed For MLS Opening Weekend
- Last Sunday’s Timbers/Red Bulls Major League Soccer match, the first MLS telecast of the season on the ESPN family of networks, earned 221,000 viewers on ESPN2 — down 34% from the Union/Timbers opener last year (337K), and down 66% from the Galaxy/Sounders opener on ESPN in 2011 (641K). The previous night, NBC Sports Network drew 107,000 viewers for Houston/D.C. United, up 31% from the network’s Red Bulls/F.C. Dallas opener last year (82K). (Son of the Bronx [1], [2])
College Basketball Action Mixed on CBS
- CBS drew a 1.8 final rating for the Michigan State/Michigan men’s college basketball game last Sunday afternoon, down 10% from Ohio State/Michigan State on the comparable weekend last year, which was the last of the regular season (2.0). Earlier in the day, Florida State/North Carolina scored a 0.8 — down 20% from Creighton/Illinois State last year (1.0). On Saturday, Louisville/Syracuse (1.2, +100%), West Virginia/Kansas (1.2, +50%) and Kentucky/Arkansas (1.5, +7%) each had increases over last year’s games. (Weekend numbers from Sports Business Daily)
Blackhawks/Red Wings Scores For NBC
- Last Sunday’s Blackhawks/Red Wings NHL regular season game, the 22nd game of the Blackhawks’ 24-game points streak, earned a 1.3 final rating and 1.9 million viewers on NBC — up 63% in ratings and 58% in viewership from Bruins/Rangers last year (0.8, 1.2M), and up 30% and 33%, respectively, from Red Wings/Blackhawks in 2011 (1.0, 1.4M). Excluding the Winter Classic, the game tied the second-highest rating for an NHL regular season game on NBC since the network resumed airing games in 2006. (NBC Sports Group, Sports Business Daily)
