ESPN had a solid start to Thanksgiving weekend with hoops action on Wednesday night. Gonzaga’s win over Duke in the Maui Invitational drew a 1.7 overnight rating, which is the net’s best figure for the event’s championship since ’10. That game led into Lakers-Cavaliers, which was LeBron James’ first game back in Cleveland after leaving in free agency following the ’17-18 season. That game drew a 2.6 overnight, which is ESPN’s best NBA regular-season game since April ’16, when the Warriors won their record 73rd game that season. The Cleveland-Akron market drew a 14.8 local rating, which is the net’s best rating ever in the market for an NBA regular-season game.
NOTES: ESPN2 drew a 0.1 overnight for the CFL Grey Cup yesterday, which saw the Calgary Stampeders beat the Ottawa Redblacks. That figure is down from a 0.2 for the Toronto Argonauts’ win over the Stampeders last year….The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade drew a 10.8 overnight this year on NBC, flat compared to ’17. The National Dog Show right after the parade drew an 8.3 overnight, up from an 8.0.
The chart below lists overnight ratings from weekend sports telecasts on broadcast TV.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RATING
|
| "The NFL Today" |
11/22
|
CBS
|
12:00-12:45pm
|
7.8
|
| NFL: Bears-Lions (Thanksgiving) |
11/22
|
CBS
|
12:45-3:45pm
|
14.2
|
| "Fox NFL Special" |
11/22
|
Fox
|
4:00-4:30pm
|
7.2
|
| NFL: Redskins-Cowboys (Thanksgiving) |
11/22
|
Fox
|
4:30-8:00pm
|
14.1
|
| Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade |
11/22
|
NBC
|
9:00am-12:00pm
|
10.8
|
| National Dog Show |
11/22
|
NBC
|
12:00-2:00pm
|
8.3
|
| NFL: Falcons-Saints (Thanksgiving) |
11/22
|
NBC
|
8:30-11:30pm
|
11.4
|
| College football: Houston-Memphis |
11/23
|
ABC
|
12:00-3:45pm
|
1.2
|
| College football: Virginia-Virginia Tech |
11/23
|
ABC
|
3:45-7:30pm
|
2.2
|
| "Greatest College Running Backs" |
11/23
|
CBS
|
1:30-2:30pm
|
1.2
|
| College football: Arkansas-Missouri |
11/23
|
CBS
|
2:30-5:45pm
|
1.2
|
| College football: Nebraska-Iowa |
11/23
|
Fox
|
12:00-3:15pm
|
1.9
|
College basketball: North Carolina-UCLA
(Las Vegas Invitational) |
11/23
|
Fox
|
4:00-6:15pm
|
0.9
|
College basketball: North Carolina-UCLA
(Las Vegas Invitational) |
11/23
|
Fox
|
6:30-8:45pm
|
1.0
|
| College football: Washington-Washington State |
11/23
|
Fox
|
8:45pm-12:00am
|
2.6
|
| NHL: Rangers-Flyers |
11/23
|
NBC
|
1:00-4:00pm
|
0.9
|
| College football: Florida-Florida State |
11/24
|
ABC
|
12:00-3:45pm
|
1.7
|
| College football: Maryland-Penn State |
11/24
|
ABC
|
3:45-6:45pm
|
1.4
|
| College football: Notre Dame-USC |
11/24
|
ABC
|
8:00-11:45pm
|
5.1
|
| Lucas Oil Off Road Racing (taped) |
11/24
|
CBS
|
1:30-2:30pm
|
0.4
|
| College football: Auburn-Alabama |
11/24
|
CBS
|
3:30-7:00pm
|
5.4
|
| College football: Michigan-Ohio State |
11/24
|
Fox
|
12:00-4:15pm
|
8.0
|
| College football: Rutgers-Michigan State |
11/24
|
Fox
|
4:15-7:45pm
|
2.0
|
| College football: Oklahoma State-TCU |
11/24
|
Fox
|
8:00-11:45pm
|
1.2
|
| EPL: Chelsea-Tottenham |
11/24
|
NBC
|
12:30-2:30pm
|
0.8
|
| Skiing/Snowboarding: Killington Cup (giant slalom) |
11/24
|
NBC
|
3:00-4:30pm
|
0.5
|
| Ironman World Championship (taped) |
11/24
|
NBC
|
4:30-6:00pm
|
0.7
|
| "World of X Games" |
11/25
|
ABC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
| "The NFL Today" |
11/25
|
CBS
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
2.5
|
| NFL: (regional) |
11/25
|
CBS
|
1:00-4:15pm
|
9.0
|
| NFL: Steelers-Broncos (87%) |
11/25
|
CBS
|
4:15-7:30pm
|
15.5
|
| "Fox NFL Kickoff" |
11/25
|
Fox
|
11:00am-12:00pm
|
1.3
|
| "Fox NFL Sunday" |
11/25
|
Fox
|
12:00-1:00pm
|
3.3
|
| NFL: (singleheader) |
11/25
|
Fox
|
1:00-4:05pm
|
10.3
|
| Skiing/Snowboarding: Killington Cup (slalom) |
11/25
|
NBC
|
1:00-3:00pm
|
0.5
|
| "Next Olympic Hopeful" |
11/25
|
NBC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.4
|
| Figure Skating: ISU Grand Prix (taped) |
11/25
|
NBC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.8
|
| "Football Night in America" |
11/25
|
NBC
|
7:30-8:15pm
|
6.1
|
| "SNF": Packers-Vikings |
11/25
|
NBC
|
8:30-11:30pm
|
13.2
|
