The opening weekend of college football led sports ratings over the weekend. ESPN earned a 3.0 overnight for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race from Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday night, down from a 3.3 rating for the same Labor Day weekend race last year. Meanwhile, with Tiger Woods finishing in 65th place, NBC earned a 2.5 overnight for the final round of the PGA Tour Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday, down from a 3.4 overnight last year, when Woods finished third. NBC also earned a 1.6 overnight for Temple-Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon, down from a 2.1 rating the net’s first Notre Dame home game last season, which was against Purdue (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor). The 1.6 overnight marks the “second-lowest for a Notre Dame opener on NBC since at least 1997, ahead of only Nevada/Notre Dame in 2009 (1.3)” (SPORTSMEDIAWATCH.com, 9/3).
The chart below lists overnight Nielsen ratings from Labor Day weekend sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RATING
|
| "RGIII: The Will To Win" |
8/31
|
ABC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.7
|
| "College Football Countdown" |
8/31
|
ABC
|
3:00-3:30pm
|
0.8
|
| College Football: (regional) |
8/31
|
ABC
|
3:30-6:00pm
|
2.2
|
| College Football: Georgia-Clemson |
8/31
|
ABC
|
8:15pm-12:00am
|
4.9
|
| U.S. Open: Men's, Women's Third Round |
8/31
|
CBS
|
11:00am-6:00pm
|
1.2
|
| EPL: Crystal Palace-Sunderland |
8/31
|
NBC
|
12:30-3:00pm
|
0.6
|
| "Notre Dame pregame" |
8/31
|
NBC
|
3:00-3:30pm
|
0.7
|
| College Football: Temple-Notre Dame |
8/31
|
NBC
|
3:30-6:00pm
|
1.6
|
| American Le Mans Series: Baltimore Grand Prix |
9/1
|
ABC
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
0.9
|
| U.S. Open: Men's, Women's Fourth Round |
9/1
|
CBS
|
11:00am-6:00pm
|
1.6
|
| Diamond League Track & Field |
9/1
|
NBC
|
1:30-2:30pm
|
0.8
|
| PGA Tour: Deutsche Bank Championship: Third Round |
9/1
|
NBC
|
2:30-6:00pm
|
2.4
|
| U.S. Open: Men's, Women's Fourth Round |
9/2
|
CBS
|
11:00am-12:00pm
|
1.3
|
| U.S. Open: Men's, Women's Fourth Round |
9/2
|
CBS
|
12:30-6:00pm*
|
1.2
|
| PGA Tour: Deutsche Bank Championship: Final Round |
9/2
|
NBC
|
1:00-6:30pm**
|
2.5
|
| |
|
|
|
|
NOTES: * = 12:30-4:45pm was rain coverage. ** = Coverage began on tape-delay. After a weather delay from 3:30-4:00pm ET coverage was live from 4:00pm until conclusion.
