The Yankees/Red Sox rivalry is nowhere close to the television draw it once was, but it still moves the needle like nothing else in baseball.
Last week’s Yankees/Red Sox “Sunday Night Baseball” game drew a 2.1 U.S. rating and 3.1 million viewers on ESPN, up 40% in ratings and 42% in viewership from the same match-up last year (1.5, 2.2M), and the most-viewed MLB telecast of the season on the network.
The previous ESPN high was 2.6 million viewers for Yankees/Red Sox in July.
Despite the stronger numbers, Yankees/Red Sox is still not as big a draw as in previous years. Just two years ago, a Sunday night clash between the teams earned 4.7 million viewers on ESPN.
Meanwhile, FOX did not perform as well with its Yankees/Red Sox game over the weekend. Regional MLB action featuring Yankees/Red Sox drew a mere 1.7 final rating and 2.4 million viewers on FOX last Saturday — actually up a tick in ratings from coverage featuring the same match-up last year (1.6).
The game was the 15th of 19 MLB telecasts on FOX this season to have under a 2.0 rating.
(Weekend ratings from Sports Business Daily)
