America's Top Sports Leagues the NBA, NHL, and MLB return: Who Will Win the Viewership Race?

By: Tom Gleeson

Team sports are on the horizon in the United States as fans eagerly await the restart of the NBA and NHL seasons and the start of the MLB season. The leagues have navigated the logistics of testing for COVID-19, isolating, and keeping the leagues safe in order for them to come back. One precaution that all leagues are taking is that there will be no fans in the stands. So what does that mean for television viewership and streams?

The number of viewers for the upcoming restarts will be record setting not only because there have been a lack of sports lately, but also because the fans that would be attending the games live are now forced to watch from their living rooms.

Two professional sports leagues that have successfully restarted are NASCAR and the PGA Tour. They have held races and tournaments for at least a month now and they have seen an increase in their viewership since their restart. According to NBC, NASCAR’s viewership increased by more than one million people since last year’s summer racing. Specifically, the race on July 5th in Indianapolis had a Total Audience Delivery of 4.37 million viewers, in comparison to 3.31 million viewers a year ago at the Daytona race. The PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Challenge saw an increase of 50% two weeks ago.

This large increase in NASCAR and PGA Tour viewership poses an early indication that the viewership for the NBA, NHL, and MLB seasons will have a similar increase. Eric Fisher, U.S. Editor for SportsBusiness Group, tweeted on July 14th that “Fox expects to go up about 40% in ratings for return of MLB. Right in range of bump for other sports upon return from COVID-19 hiatus. Expectations also boosted by heightened local rivalries driven by regionalized schedule.” 

There will be a “honeymoon phase” where during the first week of games the viewership will be the highest, and then there will be a slight decrease in numbers. The MLB might see a larger dip because it is the start of the regular season; however the NBA and NHL will be entering playoff games which will create more hype and importance on those games. ESPN saw a “honeymoon phase” with The Last Dance docuseries. According to Yahoo Sports, episode one had the most views of 6.34 million and episode eight had the least views of 4.918. Will a trend be found?

It will be interesting to see which league will have the most viewers now that there are more leagues on the verge of restarting. NASCAR and the PGA Tour could be humbled in viewers with the return of three of the four major sports. The NBA will most likely take the crown for the highest viewers with the MLB and NHL fighting for second place.