Halfway through 2020*, here is a look at the most-watched sports-related programs of the year so far.
With football season largely unaffected by world events, the pro and college game accounted for the 18 most-watched sports programs of the year thus far, led by Super Bowl 54 (Chiefs-49ers: 41.6, 100.45M). The LSU-Clemson College Football Playoff National Championship was the top non-NFL program at #12.
The cancellation of the NCAA Tournament and postponements of the NBA and NHL playoffs leave the rest of the list lacking. Between the NBA, NHL and college basketball, the most-watched program of the year was February’s NBA All-Star Game, placing a higher-than-usual #20 (7.3M).
All ten episodes of the ESPN Michael Jordan documentary series “The Last Dance” made the list, ranking between #21 and #34. So too did the second edition of “The Match” — featuring Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning versus Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady — ranking #27.
Numbers obtained from various sources, including Programming Insider, ShowBuzz Daily and network PR. To see what this list looks like in a more typical year, here is last year’s “Halftime” post for reference.
50 most-watched sports telecasts of the year, so far
| SportsMediaWatch.com | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | SPORT | GAME | RTG | VWRS | NET |
| 1 | NFL | Chiefs-49ers Super Bowl 54 |
41.6 | 100.45M | FOX |
| 2 | NFL | Packers-49ers NFC Championship |
21.9 | 42.479M | FOX |
| 3 | NFL | Titans-Chiefs AFC Championship |
23.1 | 41.105M | CBS |
| 4 | NFL | Seahawks-Packers NFC Divisional |
20.0 | 37.244M | FOX |
| 5 | NFL | Texans-Chiefs AFC Divisional |
20.3 | 35.396M | CBS |
| 6 | NFL | Seahawks-Eagles NFC Wild Card |
19.2 | 35.118M | NBC |
| 7 | NFL | Titans-Patriots AFC Wild Card |
17.1 | 31.417M | CBS |
| 8 | NFL | Vikings-Saints NFC Wild Card |
17.4 | 29.932M | FOX |
| 9 | NFL | Titans-Ravens AFC Divisional |
16.0 | 29.412M | CBS |
| 10 | NFL | Vikings-49ers NFC Divisional |
16.6 | 29.294M | NBC |
| 11 | NFL | Bills-Texans AFC Wild Card |
15.2 | 26.341M | ABC, ESPN |
| 12 | CFB | LSU-Clemson National Championship |
14.3 | 25.588M | ESPN |
| 13 | CFB | Oregon-Wisconsin Rose Bowl |
8.7 | 16.304M | ESPN |
| 14 | NFL | NFL Draft Round 1 |
8.8 | 15.264M | ESPN, ABC, NFLN |
| 15 | CFB | Alabama-Michigan Citrus Bowl |
8.0 | 14.003M | ABC |
| 16 | CFB | Georgia-Baylor Sugar Bowl |
5.7 | 10.224M | ESPN |
| 17 | NFL | NFL Draft Rounds 2-3 |
4.9 | 8.049M | ESPN, ABC, NFLN |
| 18 | NFL | Pro Bowl | 4.9 | 7.968M | ABC, ESPN |
| 19 | Auto | Daytona 500 NASCAR Cup Series |
4.4 | 7.330M | FOX |
| 20 | NBA | NBA All-Star Game | 4.1 | 7.282M | TNT, TBS |
| 21 | Doc. | “The Last Dance” Episode 1 |
3.5 | 6.340M | ESPN, ESPN2 |
| 22 | Auto | Darlington (5/17) NASCAR Cup Series |
3.7 | 6.323M | FOX |
| 23 | Doc. | “The Last Dance” Episode 3 |
3.5 | 6.143M | ESPN, ESPN2 |
| 24 | Doc. | “The Last Dance” Episode 9 |
3.45 | 5.891M | ESPN, ESPN2 |
| 25 | Doc. | “The Last Dance” Episode 5 |
3.3 | 5.834M | ESPN, ESPN2 |
| 26 | Doc. | “The Last Dance” Episode 2 |
3.2 | 5.793M | ESPN, ESPN2 |
| 27 | Golf | “The Match II” Tiger/Peyton v. Phil/Brady |
3.5 | 5.667M | TBS, TNT, TruTV, HLN |
| 28 | Doc. | “The Last Dance” Episode 4 |
3.2 | 5.657M | ESPN, ESPN2 |
| 29 | Auto | Las Vegas NASCAR Cup Series |
3.2 | 5.500M | FOX |
| 30 | Doc. | “The Last Dance” Episode 10 |
3.2 | 5.406M | ESPN, ESPN2 |
| 31 | Doc. | “The Last Dance” Episode 7 |
3.1 | 5.344M | ESPN, ESPN2 |
| 32 | Doc. | “The Last Dance” Episode 6 |
2.9 | 5.259M | ESPN, ESPN2 |
| 33 | NBA | All-Star Saturday Night | 2.8 | 5.052M | TNT |
| 34 | Doc. | “The Last Dance” Episode 8 |
2.8 | 4.918M | ESPN, ESPN2 |
| 35 | Auto | Auto Club NASCAR Cup Series |
2.9 | 4.789M | FOX |
| 36 | Auto | Phoenix NASCAR Cup Series |
2.7 | 4.575M | FOX |
| 37 | NBA | Blazers-Lakers Kobe Bryant tribute game |
2.6 | 4.406M | ESPN |
| 38 | CFB | Tennessee-Indiana Gator Bowl |
2.6 | 4.317M | ESPN |
| 39 | NFL | NFL Draft Rounds 4-7 |
2.8 | 4.174M | ESPN, ABC, NFLN |
| 40 | CFB | Auburn-Minnesota Outback Bowl |
2.4 | 3.985M | ESPN |
| 41 | Auto | Charlotte (5/24) NASCAR Cup Series |
2.4 | 3.963M | FOX |
| 42 | Auto | Atlanta NASCAR Cup Series |
2.5 | 3.957M | FOX |
| 43 | NBA | Lakers-Clippers | 2.3 | 3.623M | ABC |
| 44 | NBA | Celtics-Lakers | 2.3 | 3.589M | ABC |
| 45 | Golf | Pebble Beach Final round |
2.3 | 3.505M | CBS |
| 46 | XFL | Tampa Bay-New York | 2.1 | 3.385M | FOX |
| 47 | Auto | Talladega NASCAR Cup Series |
2.1 | 3.330M | FOX |
| 48 | Horse | Belmont Stakes | 2.0 | 3.329M | NBC |
| 49 | XFL | Seattle-DC | 2.1 | 3.302M | ABC |
| 50 | XFL | Los Angeles-Houston | 1.9 | 3.290M | FOX |
† This list does not include news events such as the February 24 Celebration of Life for Kobe and Gianna Bryant, which averaged 3.72 million viewers across ESPN, NBA TV, CNN, MSNBC, E! and BET.
Select events outside of the top 50
The following is a list of select sporting events that did not make the top 50. This is not a complete list, but a hodgepodge of notable events, with some skipped.
| SportsMediaWatch.com | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPORT | GAME | RTG | VWRS | NET |
| Golf | Torrey Pines Final round |
2.1 | 3.248M | CBS |
| Golf | Colonial Final round |
2.1 | 3.091M | CBS |
| Golf | Los Angeles Final round |
2.0 | 3.085M | CBS |
| Golf | Hartford Final round |
2.0 | 3.067M | CBS |
| NBA | Lakers-Sixers | 1.9 | 2.990M | ABC |
| Auto | Bristol NASCAR Cup Series |
1.7 | 2.932M | FS1 |
| NBA | Lakers-Rockets | 1.9 | 2.916M | ABC |
| NBA | Lakers-Warriors | 1.8 | 2.881M | ABC |
| Golf | Phoenix Final round |
1.75 | 2.867M | CBS |
| Golf | WGC-Mexico Final round |
1.8 | 2.791M | NBC |
| Auto | Homestead-Miami NASCAR Cup Series |
1.8 | 2.775M | FOX |
| NBA | Lakers-Pelicans | 1.7 | 2.694M | ESPN |
| CFB | NDSU-James Madison FCS Championship |
1.8 | 2.686M | ABC |
| CBB | Duke-North Carolina | 1.6 | 2.674M | ESPN |
| Auto | Pocono II NASCAR Cup Series |
1.6 | 2.660M | FS1 |
| Auto | Pocono I NASCAR Cup Series |
1.6 | 2.570M | FOX |
| XFL | St. Louis-Dallas | 1.4 | 2.495M | ESPN |
| NBA | Bucks-Lakers | 1.6 | 2.432M | ESPN |
| XFL | Dallas-Los Angeles | 1.5 | 2.397M | ABC |
| Skate | US Fig. Skt. Chmp. Women’s free skate |
1.6 | 2.386M | NBC |
| NBA | Spurs-Pelicans Zion Williamson debut |
1.6 | 2.357M | ESPN |
| XFL | Tampa Bay-Seattle | 1.5 | 2.324M | FOX |
| Golf | “Driving Relief” | 1.5 | 2.320M | NBC, GOLF, NBCSN |
| CBB | St. John’s-Xavier | 1.4 | 2.300M | FOX |
| CBB | North Carolina-Duke | 1.4 | 2.232M | ESPN |
| Golf | 2019 Masters (re-air) Final round |
1.4 | 2.163M | CBS |
| CBB | MSU-Purdue | 1.5 | 2.159M | CBS |
| CBB | Louisville-Duke | 1.3 | 2.150M | ESPN |
| XFL | New York-DC | 1.35 | 2.146M | ABC |
| XFL | Dallas-Seattle | 1.3 | 2.051M | FOX |
| NHL | Predators-Stars Winter Classic |
1.15 | 1.959M | NBC |
| UFC | UFC 246 prelims | 1.1 | 1.767M | ESPN |
| NHL | All-Star Game | 1.0 | 1.698M | NBC |
| Auto | Texas (simulated) NASCAR iRacing |
0.8 | 1.339M | FOX, FS1 |
| EPL | Manchester Derby | 0.9 | 1.338M | NBC |
| Auto | Texas IndyCar Series |
0.8 | 1.249M | NBC |
| NBA | 2016 Jazz-Lakers Kobe’s final game (1/27) |
0.7 | 1.086M | ESPN |
| NBA | NBA HORSE Challenge Night one |
0.37 | 686K | ESPN |
| NBA | 1998 Bulls-Jazz “Game 6: The Movie” |
0.40 | 608K | ESPN |
| NWSL | North Carolina-Portland | 0.37 | 572K | CBS |
Image credit: Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images
* Every mention of 2020 deserves an asterisk.
