Golf and NASCAR led weekend overnight ratings for sports telecasts. The final round of the PGA Tour Quicken Loans Invitational, which saw Troy Merritt hold off Rickie Fowler for his first win on Tour, drew a 2.5 overnight, marking the event's best figure since Tiger Woods won in '12 (4.6). Meanwhile, NBCSN drew a 2.5 overnight yesterday for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race from Pocono Raceway, down from a 2.8 on ESPN last year.
BEASTS OF THE EAST: ESPN drew a 1.7 overnight rating for Nationals-Mets last night, but the big win for the net came locally. The game drew a 6.4 local rating in N.Y., marking ESPN's best regular-season telecast in the market since a Red Sox-Yankees game in '12. It also was the best Mets telecast on ESPN (excluding any Yankees-Mets game) since Tom Glavine's 300th win in August '07. DC drew a 4.1 local rating for last night's game, marking ESPN's best figure in the market for a regular-season game since Nationals Park opened to start the '08 season. Meanwhile, SNY's two games in the Nationals-Mets series over the weekend averaged a 3.35 local rating in N.Y., marking the RSN's most-watched series since Orioles-Mets in June '12.
NOTES: NBC drew a 1.4 for the Haskell Invitational yesterday, which saw American Pharoah win the event. That figure marks the horse race's best audience since at least '11.
Listed below are overnight ratings for sports telecasts on broadcast TV over the weekend. Ratings in the Chicago market were delayed for all Sunday telecasts as of presstime.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RATING
|
| "World of X Games: WSL Surfing" |
8/1
|
ABC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.4
|
| Special Olympics |
8/1
|
ABC
|
4:00-5:00pm
|
0.4
|
| "E:60 Reports: The Rise & Fall of Sepp Blatter" |
8/1
|
ABC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
| PGA Tour: Quicken Loans National: Third Round |
8/1
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:00pm
|
2.1
|
| "World of Adventure Sports" |
8/1
|
NBC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.3
|
| "Dew Tour: Best of Chicago" |
8/1
|
NBC
|
3:00-4:30pm
|
0.3
|
| "Red Bull Signature Series: Hart Lines" |
8/1
|
NBC
|
4:30-6:00pm
|
0.4
|
| Ricoh Women's British Open highlights |
8/2
|
ABC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
0.3
|
| "PGA of America special" |
8/2
|
CBS
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.6
|
| PGA Tour: Quicken Loans National: Final Round |
8/2
|
CBS
|
3:00-6:45pm
|
2.5
|
| "Mecum Auctions: Main Attractions" |
8/2
|
NBC
|
12:30-1:30pm
|
0.7
|
| World Swimming Championships |
8/2
|
NBC
|
1:30-3:30pm
|
0.7
|
| "Red Bull Signature Series: Vans Pool Party" |
8/2
|
NBC
|
3:30-5:00pm
|
0.4
|
| Horse Racing: Haskell Invitational |
8/2
|
NBC
|
5:00-6:00pm
|
1.4
|
