MLB’s “Field of Dreams” II simply could not live up to the original in the box office.
Thursday’s Cubs-Reds Major League Baseball “Field of Dreams” game from Dyersville, Iowa, averaged a 1.7 rating and 3.10 million viewers on FOX Thursday night — down nearly half from last year’s Yankees-White Sox game from the same site (3.2, 5.9M*). Viewership peaked at 3.46 million viewers from 8:15-8:30 PM ET.
Despite the sharp decline in ratings and viewership, the Cubs’ win still delivered the largest audience of the MLB regular season. The previous high was 2.64 million for a FOX regional window featuring Yankees-Red Sox.
Going back further, it trails only last year’s Field of Dreams Game and the months-delayed Opening Night game two years ago (Yankees-Nationals: 4.01M) as the most-watched regular season baseball game in four years.
The sizable decline from last year is no surprise. Last year’s Field of Dreams Game not only benefited from the novelty of the location, but also featured playoff contenders in a high-scoring thriller that ended on a walk-off home run. This year’s game pit a pair of teams deeply under .500 and, if competitive, did not feature any of last year’s drama.
The Field of Dreams Game did comfortably outdraw Thursday’s Giants-Patriots NFL preseason game on NFL Network, which drew less than half the audience at 1.51 million. As one would expect, it was no match for the previous week’s Pro Football Hall of Fame Game on NBC (Jaguars-Raiders: 3.1, 5.48M).
Cincinnati led all markets Thursday night with a 12.2 rating and whopping 30 share, followed by Chicago at a distant second 5.3/15. Indianapolis (4.1/11), Kansas City (3.8/10) and St. Louis (3.2/9) rounded out the top five.
In other recent MLB action, regional action on FOX last weekend averaged a 1.3 and 2.22 million. There was no comparable window last year. Padres-Dodgers drew a 1.05 and 1.69 million on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, up from White Sox-Cubs on ABC — opposite the Olympics — last year (0.9, 1.63M*). Braves-Red Sox scored 418,000 on TBS Tuesday night.
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 8.12, ShowBuzz Daily 8.9, 8.10, 8.12)
