Despite facing the Olympics, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game returned from a one-year absence with the largest NFL preseason audience in four years.
Thursday’s Steelers-Cowboys Hall of Fame Game averaged 7.31 million viewers on FOX (7.33M including Fox Deportes), the largest NFL preseason audience since the 2017 Hall of Fame Game on NBC — not coincidentally, the previous one to feature Dallas (Cowboys-Cardinals: 8.25M).
Viewership jumped 37% from the previous Hall of Fame Game on NBC in 2019 (Broncos-Falcons: 5.33M).
In addition to ranking as the top preseason game in four years, Pittsburgh’s win was the most-watched preseason game on FOX since 2011.
It was the first Hall of Fame Game to air opposite the Olympics since 2012, when Saints-Cowboys mustered just 1.97 million viewers on NFL Network. The competing Olympics coverage did not even double the Hall of Fame Game, averaging 13.3 million viewers across NBC’s various platforms.
Even in an era of unusually low ratings for marquee sporting events, it should be noted that the Hall of Fame Game did not outdraw any game of the most recent NBA Finals, men’s Final Four or World Series, each of which averaged at least eight million viewers for every game. Nor did it outdraw the recent MLB All-Star Game on FOX, which averaged 8.24 million viewers last month.
Average audience for Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, past 20 editions
[Nielsen estimates from Fox Sports]
