SKEDBALL: Weekend Sports TV Ratings

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The ratings below are household ratings from the 56 television markets with local Nielsen meters for Saturday June 8 and Sunday June 9, 2013.  (The 56 markets out of 210 total cover about 70% of the US television population.)

The forgettable NBA playoff season is coming to a close, but the NBA remains the biggest sports draw on TV this time of year by far — the only sport near a double-digit household rating this weekend.

NBA — Playoff Weekend #8

ABC Sun 8:00 pm San Antonio-Miami 9.5 rating (-19% from 11.8 rating Thu June 14 9:00 pm last year)

With different winners in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, the Belmont was certain to have little meaning.  The third leg of the Triple Crown averaged a 4.6 rating, down 15% from last year.  A far cry from the 10.4 rating for the Kentucky Derby when everything seems possible in horse racing.

TRIPLE CROWN — BELMONT

NBC Sat 5:00-6:15 pm Pre-Race 2.5 rating (-19% from 3.1 rating last year)

NBC Sat 6:15-7:00 pm Race Coverage 4.6 rating (-15% from 5.4 rating last year)

TRIPLE CROWN — PREAKNESS

NBC Sat 3:30-4:30 pm Pre-Race 1.4 rating (+49% from 0.9 rating last year)

NBC Sat 4:30-5:00 pm Pre-Race 2.4 rating (+41% from 1.7 rating last year)

NBC Sat 5:00-5:45 pm Pre-Race 3.6 rating (+24% from 2.9 rating last year)

NBC Sat 5:45-6:45 pm Race Coverage 6.0 rating (+9% from 5.5 rating last year)

TRIPLE CROWN — KENTUCKY DERBY

NBC Sat 4:00-4:30 pm Pre-Race 3.1 rating (+11% from 2.8 rating last year)

NBC Sat 4:30-5:00 pm Pre-Race 4.1 rating (+11% from 3.7 rating last year)

NBC Sat 5:00-6:00 pm Pre-Race 6.2 rating (+15% from 5.4 rating last year)

NBC Sat 6:00-7:00 pm Race Coverage 10.4 rating (+16% from 9.0 rating last year)

NASCAR turned in an unusual yearly decline this weekend, down 9% for the Pocono 500 from last year.  NBC continues to grow Formula One racing by upgrading that circuit from the Speed channel, but this weekend’s race still failed to top a 1.0 rating.

NASCAR

FOX Sun 1:00 pm Pocono 500 2.9 rating (-9% from 3.2 rating last year)

F1 RACING 

NBC Sun 2:00 pm Canadian Grand Prix 0.94 rating (+24% from 0.76 rating last year on Speed )

The final games in the Eastern and Western conference championship series pushed NHL ratings almost to NASCAR levels.  The finals start Wednesday on NBC and continue Saturday night.

NHL — Playoff Weekend #6 Conference Finals

NBC Sports Network Fri 8:00 pm Pittsburgh-Boston 2.28 rating (+121% from NY Rangers-New Jersey 1.03 rating Mon May 21 at 8:00 pm last year)

NBC Sat 8:00 pm NY Los Angeles-Chicago 2.9 rating (+164% from Phoenix-Los Angeles 1.1 rating on Sun May 20 at 3:00 pm)

COMBINED PLAYOFF COVERAGE (2 games) 2.59 rating (+142% from 1.07 rating last year)

MLB resumed its double-digit percentage declines this week, after only a 4% drop last week.

MLB — Regular Season Week #10

FOX Sat 7:15 pm LAA-BOS, STL-CIN, SD-COL, HOU-KC & PHI-MIL 2.2 rating (-15% from 2.6 rating last year)

Golf was up a bit on Sunday as Phil Mickelson mounted a late but unsuccessful charge at the St. Jude Classic.

PGA — St. Jude Classic

CBS Sat 3:00 pm Third Round 1.4 rating (identical to 1.4 rating last year)

CBS Sun 3:00 pm Final Round 2.1 rating (+11% from 1.9 rating last year)

COMBINED WEEKEND COVERAGE 1.75 rating (+6% from 1.65 rating last year)

Kind of sad that one of the grand slam tournaments in tennis draws an audience equal to a very mediocre PGA golf tournament.

TENNIS — French Open

NBC Sat 9:00 am Women’s Final 1.8 rating (+6% from 1.7 rating last year)

NBC Sun 9:00 am Men’s Final 1.7 rating (-15% from 2.0 rating last year)

COMBINED WEEKEND COVERAGE 1.75 rating (-5% from 1.85 rating last year)