Despite a drop for the season opener, the rest of MLS opening weekend did well compared to last year. In other news, the West Coast Conference tournament delivered big gains on ESPN, and NASCAR’s Xfinity and Truck Series races went in different directions at Atlanta.
Positive Numbers For MLS Opening Weekend
- Saturday’s Galaxy-F.C. Dallas Major League Soccer match scored 509,000 viewers on Univision, up 9% from the network’s first match last season, which aired on UniMas, and the top opening weekend audience on any network. In other action, ESPN drew 411,000 viewers for its Orlando City S.C.-New York City F.C. opener on Sunday, up 14% from its Fire-Crew opener last year (362K) but down 23% from Orlando City-NYC F.C. on ESPN2 in 2015 (539K). Fox Sports 1 scored 375,000 for Red Bulls-Atlanta United later Sunday night, its second-largest MLS regular season audience.
Big Jump For WCC Final, Though Down From 2015
- Gonzaga-St. Mary’s had a 0.9 final rating and 1.4 million viewers in Tuesday’s West Coast Conference final on ESPN, up 29% in ratings and 45% in viewership from the same matchup last year (0.7, 980K) but down a tick and 1% respectively from Gonzaga-BYU in 2015 (1.0, 1.4M). The previous night’s Gonzaga-Santa Clara semifinal had a 0.6 (+50%) and 901,000 (+59%).
Xfinity Series Down, But Truck Series Up, At Atlanta
- NASCAR Xfinity Series racing from Atlanta pulled a 0.9 final rating and 1.36 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 Saturday afternoon, down a tick in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (1.0, 1.44M) and down a tick and 10% respectively from 2015 (1.0, 1.5M). Truck Series racing drew a 0.8 (flat) and 1.2 million (+6%) immediately afterward.
(Numbers from Univision via Sports TV Ratings/Twitter 3.7, ESPN Media Zone 3.8, Fox Sports PR/Twitter 3.8; Programming Insider 3.7, 3.8; ShowBuzz Daily 3.7)
