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The NFL’s reign atop the broadcasting world remains unchallenged, as no league comes close to its viewership. However, the league’s season-long ratings did fall 2.2% for the year. We go network by network and explore how each did—and why.
—Eric Fisher, David Rumsey, and Colin Salao
Chris Jones-Imagn Images
The NFL finished its 2024 regular season with somewhat diminished domestic viewership, but the league still reinforced its status as by far the biggest entity in U.S. broadcasting, regardless of genre.
The league averaged 17.5 million viewers per game across all networks, down 2.2% from a year ago. While a slight decrease from last year’s 7% viewership bump to 17.9 million, the 2024 numbers were far above any other programming, sports or otherwise, and the league’s overall media presence expanded with a critical new rights partner.
More broadly, streaming had an accelerating role in the NFL’s audience in 2024, with Amazon posting by far the biggest year-over-year increase of any rights holder, the major arrival of Netflix to live NFL games, and the broadcast networks getting larger-than-ever percentages of their pro football audiences from digital platforms.
Among the individual network results:
CBS did not disclose any season-ending viewership data, but the network did draw one of the year’s biggest audiences with the Nov. 17 Chiefs-Bills game that drew an average of 31.1 million. Industry sources said the network ended the season down 1% with an average of 19.2 million per game.
Several key factors fueled the season-ending results. The two-time defending champion Chiefs asserted themselves as the top draw among NFL viewers, while the perennial favorite Cowboys retreated this year with a 7–10 season—ultimately getting flexed to a lesser broadcast slot for a Week 17 game.
The most-watched game of the season was the late-afternoon Thanksgiving contest between the Giants and Cowboys, drawing a final average of 38.8 million. The season-ending ratings also arrived as the league claimed 70 of the top 100 broadcasts in the U.S. in 2024, down from 93 in 2023. The league average of 17.5 million viewers per game excludes figures from ESPN+, Peacock, and international games on the NFL Network.
NHL Plans Outdoor Games for Florida, Defying the Heat
The NHL is making a big, bold bet on its growth in the Sunshine State, as it will play two outdoor games there next season. Eric Fisher tells you what led the league to choose Florida, and how it plans to hold open-air games on days that could reach 70 degrees.
Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
The biggest non–NBA Cup game of the season will be played in Cleveland on Wednesday night. And no, it doesn’t involve LeBron James returning home.
The Thunder (30–5) visit the Cavaliers (31–4) in a battle of the NBA’s top two teams. Both are on pace to win 70+ games, and it’s just the third time in NBA history that two teams with at least an .850 win percentage will meet this late in the season.
Both are also in the middle of a particularly hot stretch. The Thunder are on a 15-game winning streak (excluding their loss to the Bucks in the NBA Cup final, which is not part of the 82-game schedule), while the Cavs have won 10 straight. Additionally, neither team has lost to one from the opposing conference.
It’s no surprise the league is heavily marketing this contest across its social platforms. But the NBA is taking on a challenging task, since Oklahoma City and Cleveland are small markets and their respective stars, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Donovan Mitchell, have yet to appear in the NBA Finals.
Neither entered the year as a major viewership draw, as the Thunder were scheduled for 15 nationally televised games (excluding NBA TV)—11th most in the league despite finishing with the No. 1 seed in the West last year—while the Cavaliers had just eight.
Their two meetings for this season were not originally scheduled as nationally televised games, but on Dec. 13, the NBA announced it would flex both into the national TV schedule: Wednesday on ESPN and Jan. 16 on TNT. However, due to the fires in Los Angeles, ESPN will not hold its usual NBA Countdown show on Wednesday and instead air an expanded version of SportsCenter.
Oklahoma City is now up to 20 national TV games—two against Cleveland and three from its run to the NBA Cup final. The Cavaliers are up to 10. Including NBA TV, the league has flexed seven Thunder games and three Cavs games into its national schedule—and more could come as the season has yet to reach its midway point.
There is some proof that both teams can bring in an audience, given their strong seasons. The NBA Cup final between the Thunder and Bucks drew nearly three million fans. That’s down from last year’s final that included the Lakers, but it was the second-most-watched game of the season at the time. The Cavaliers’ loss to the Celtics on Nov. 19 averaged 1.94 million viewers, above the 1.8 million TNT drew through the first month of the season.
NBA viewership, which has been a hot topic this season, is averaging 1.74 million across ABC, ESPN, and TNT, a 3% decrease from last year. It was previously down double digits until Christmas Day delivered an 87% increase.
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TGL
Golf isn’t exactly known as a fast-paced sport.
But on Tuesday night, during the debut match of TGL, the new indoor league’s 40-second shot clock impressed golfers inside the building and out.
“I couldn’t believe how quickly everything happened,” said Shane Lowry, the 2019 Open Champion whose team, The Bay Golf Club, defeated New York Golf Club 9–2.
There were no shot clock violations Tuesday night, but the pace of play is a major issue at men’s and women’s professional golf tournaments, with five-hour-plus rounds commonplace at most events. The first match of TGL, which was founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, took roughly two hours on ESPN.
Like an NBA game, fans inside the 1,500-seat SoFi Center counted down the shot clock under 10 seconds, with an accompanying heartbeat sound playing in the arena. “I’m always so jealous of basketball and football guys that they get to do this so much more than we do,” The Bay’s Ludvig Aberg said. “It’s cool playing in a stadium.”
New York’s Rickie Fowler, a six-time PGA Tour winner, is bullish on the innovation. “Shot clock, no question,” he said when asked what part of TGL traditional golf could adapt. His teammate Matt Fitzpatrick agreed. “It was much faster than I thought. … I just wish that was real golf as well,” the 2022 U.S. Open champion said.
Former U.S. Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team member Max Homa, who will tee it up for Jupiter Links Golf Club alongside Woods next week, was envious of the “electric” pace he watched on TV. “It kept moving and moving,” he said on the No Laying Up podcast. “It felt a lot more like a normal sport where you see a bunch of action and then it goes to commercial, and it’s not that bad to go to commercial because you almost want to catch your breath.”
The presence of Woods in Match 2 should keep fans interested for another week, but it remains to be seen whether TGL will catch on as a staple of the already-busy golf calendar.
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Bowl games ⬆ The 33 non–College Football Playoff bowl matchups on ESPN platforms this postseason averaged 2.7 million viewers, which is up 14% compared to last year. An Alamo Bowl featuring Colorado and head coach Deion Sanders, as well as several upsets of CFP-scorned SEC teams, were among the most-watched games.
Belgian Grand Prix ⬆⬇ The Formula One race signed a multiyear extension through 2031, but the iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps won’t host an event in 2028 or 2030 as part of the new deal.
Flutter Entertainment ⬇ FanDuel’s parent company cut its fourth-quarter guidance to $1.59 billion from $1.97 billion in the U.S., citing a favorable NFL season for gamblers who backed favorites this year. The company said favorites finished with their highest win rate in nearly two decades.
FCS national championship ⬆ North Dakota State’s win over Montana State averaged 2.41 million viewers Monday on ESPN, the most-watched FCS title game since January 2020. Last year’s title game drew just over one million viewers, but it aired on an NFL Sunday.
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