Saturday (12/16) sports ratings: NFL, college hoops and more

On the first of five-straight NFL Saturdays, the league dominated the rest of the sports line-up.

NFL Network averaged a 4.3 rating and 8.77 million viewers for its Saturday NFL tripleheader, with the three games ranking as easily the most-watched sportscasts of the day. Viewership declined 2% from the equivalent tripleheader last year (8.92M), which was anchored by a Bills-Dolphins game that averaged 11.06 million. No game this year was as strong a draw, with the slate topping out at a 4.7 and 9.79 million for Steelers-Colts.

Broncos-Lions followed with a 4.4 and 9.15 million, with Vikings-Bengals rounding out the day at a 3.9 and 7.53 million.

As for the non-NFL slate, college basketball took top honors with a 1.3 and 2.40 million for North Carolina-Kentucky in the annual CBS Sports Classic — up from UCLA-Kentucky in the same window last year (1.1, 1.99M) and the largest audience for the event since Kentucky-North Carolina in 2018 (2.71M).

The first half of the event, UCLA-Ohio State, averaged a 0.7 and 1.21 million — down 29 and 25 percent respectively from last year (North Carolina-Ohio State: 1.0, 1.62M). CBS also drew a 0.8 (+11%) and 1.46 million (+16%) for the first game of its tripleheader, Kansas-Indiana.

Over on FOX, Alabama-Creighton drew a 0.42 and 784,000 in primetime, airing in place of a Michigan State-Baylor game that was moved to the afternoon to avoid Broncos-Lions. That game had a 0.35 and 616,000. FOX also drew a 0.33 an 520,000 for a Louisville-UConn women’s game.

On the first day of the bowl season, college football topped out at a 1.4 and 2.38 million for the UCLA-Boise State LA Bowl, followed by the Appalachian State-Miami (Ohio) Cure Bowl at a 1.2 and 1.95 million and the FAMU-Howard Celebration Bowl at a 0.9 and 1.51 million, all on ABC. The top ESPN game was the Ohio-Georgia Southern Myrtle Beach Bowl at a 0.7 and 1.20 million, followed by the Jacksonville State-Louisiana New Orleans Bowl (0.6, 1.09M), the Texas Tech-Cal Independence Bowl (0.6, 1.02M) and the Fresno State-New Mexico State New Mexico Bowl (0.46, 845K).

The Montana-North Dakota State FCS semifinal scored a 0.48 and 790,000 on ESPN2, up from Montana State-South Dakota State a year ago (598K).

In other action, the penultimate round of the PGA Tour Father-Son Challenge drew a 0.7 and 1.18 million — down from last year (0.9, 1.48M). Its English Premier League lead-in — Everton-Burnley — had a 0.49 and 827,000.

Airing in a window previously occupied by the NCAA women’s volleyball final, UFC 296 prelims on ESPN2 averaged a 0.45 and 925,000.

Finally, the NBA was unusually quiet — even by the standards of lesser-watched NBA TV — with a mere 0.08 and 140,000 for Jazz-Kings and a 0.06 and 108,000 for Hawks-Cavaliers.

Saturday, December 16 sports ratings