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Final Ratings: ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" Opener Sees Small Viewership Bump

ESPN averaged 2.28 million viewers for the “Sunday Night Baseball” opener featuring Dodgers-Padres, relatively flat compared to the 2.27 million viewers last year for Rangers-Astros. The “SNB” opener in ’12, which was actually on a Wednesday night, drew 2.42 million viewers as the opening of Marlins Park was featured. During ’09-11, the “SNB” opener aired on ESPN2.

"SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL" SEASON OPENER AUDIENCE TREND
YEAR
NETWORK
MATCHUP
RATING
VIEWERS (000)
'14
ESPN
Dodgers-Padres
1.4
2,279
'13
ESPN
Rangers-Astros
1.4
2,268
'12*
ESPN
Cardinals-Marlins
1.6
2,416
'11
ESPN2
Giants-Dodgers
1.2
1,995
'10
ESPN2
Yankees-Red Sox
2.0
3,234
'09
ESPN2
Braves-Phillies
2.1
3,313
'08
ESPN
Braves-Nationals
2.4
3,656
         
CHART NOTE: * = Aired on a Wednesday to accommodate opening of Marlins Park.

START YOUR ENGINES: ABC averaged 866,000 viewers for the season-opening Verizon IndyCar Series race from St. Petersburg last Sunday. The race went head-to-head with both the NASCAR Sprint Cup race and NCAA Elite 8 telecasts. The audience is down from the last season opener on ABC in '12, which drew 1.28 million viewers.

VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES: AUDIENCE TREND FOR SEASON-OPENING RACE
YEAR
NETWORK
START (ET)
DAY
RACE
RATING
VIEWERS (000)
'14
ABC
3:00pm
Sun.
Streets of St. Petersburg
0.6
866
'13
NBCSN
12:30pm
Sun.
Streets of St. Petersburg
0.3
388
'12
ABC
12:30pm
Sun.
Streets of St. Petersburg
0.9
1,279
'11
ABC
12:30pm
Sun.
Streets of St. Petersburg
1.2
1,840
'10
NBCSN
12:00pm
Sun.
Streets of São Paulo
0.2
411
             
The charts below list final ratings and viewership from recent sports telecasts.

TELECAST
DATE
NET
TIME (ET)
RATING
VIEWERS (000)
NCAA Tournament: Elite 8: Kentucky-Michigan
3/30
CBS
4:55-7:20pm
8.9
14,639
NCAA Tournament: Elite 8: UConn-Michigan State
3/30
CBS
2:10-4:35pm
6.1
9,795
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: STP 500 (Martinsville)
3/30
Fox
1:15-5:00pm
4.2
6,700
Liga MX: Chivas de Guadalajara-Club America
3/30
UniMas
8:47-11:00pm
1.1
2,331
PGA Tour: Valero Texas Open: Final Round
3/30
NBC
3:15-6:15pm
1.6
2,226
"Road to the Final Four"
3/30
CBS
1:00-2:15pm
1.2
1,691
PGA Tour: Valero Texas Open: Third Round
3/29
NBC
3:00-6:00pm
1.2
1,690
NCAA D-II Men's Basketball Championship:
Central Missouri-West Liberty
3/29
CBS
3:00-5:20pm
1.0
1,335
NHL: Bruins-Flyers
3/30
NBC
12:30-3:15pm
0.8
1,304
"Best of College Basketball 2014"
3/29
CBS
2:00-3:00pm
0.7
890
"Supercross: Behind the Dream"
3/30
CBS
12:00-1:00pm
0.6
887
Verizon IndyCar Series: Firestone GP of St. Petersburg
3/30
ABC
3:00-5:47pm
0.6
866
PBR 15/15 Bucking Battle
3/29
CBS
1:00-2:00pm
0.6
834
Liga MX: Cruz Azul-Atlas
3/29
Univision
6:55-9:00pm
0.5
819
"ESPN Sports Saturday"
3/29
ABC
4:00-6:00pm
0.5
685
"World of Adventure Sports"
3/29
NBC
2:00-3:00pm
0.3
340
TELECAST
DATE
NET
TIME (ET)
RATING
VIEWERS (000)
NCAA Tournament: Elite 8: Wisconsin-Arizona
3/29
TBS
8:38-11:17pm
5.8
9,967
NCAA Tournament: Elite 8: Florida-Dayton
3/29
TBS
6:00-8:22pm
4.3
7,203
NCAA Tournament: Sweet 16: Michigan State-Virginia
3/28
TBS
10:06pm-12:31am
3.0
5,086
"Inside March Madness"
3/29
TBS
11:17pm-12:00am
2.3
3,547
NBA: Heat-Pacers
3/26
ESPN
8:03-10:54pm
2.2
3,348
NCAA Tournament: Sweet 16: Arizona-San Diego State
3/27
TBS
10:09pm-12:43pm
2.0
3,282
NCAA Tournament: Sweet 16: UConn-Iowa State
3/28
TBS
7:15-9:43pm
1.8
3,105
NCAA Tournament: Sweet 16: Wisconsin-Baylor
3/27
TBS
7:30-9:51pm
1.9
3,025
MLB: Dodgers-Padres
3/30
ESPN
8:00-11:03pm
1.4
2,279
"Inside March Madness"
3/28
TBS
12:37-1:06am
1.3
2,252

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: April 25, 2024

Motor City's big weekend; Kevin Warren's big bet; Bill Belichick's big makeover and the WNBA's big week continues

TNT’s Stan Van Gundy, ESPN’s Tim Reed, NBA Playoffs and NFL Draft

On this week’s pod, SBJ’s Austin Karp has two Big Get interviews. The first is with TNT’s Stan Van Gundy as he breaks down the NBA Playoffs from the booth. Later in the show, we hear from ESPN’s VP of Programming and Acquisitions Tim Reed as the NFL Draft gets set to kick off on Thursday night in Motown. SBJ’s Tom Friend also joins the show to share his insights into NBA viewership trends.

SBJ I Factor: Molly Mazzolini

SBJ I Factor features an interview with Molly Mazzolini. Elevate's Senior Operating Advisor – Design + Strategic Alliances chats with SBJ’s Ross Nethery about the power of taking chances. Mazzolini is a member of the SBJ Game Changers Class of 2016. She shares stories of her career including co-founding sports design consultancy Infinite Scale career journey and how a chance encounter while working at a stationery store launched her career in the sports industry. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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