College World Series Is ESPN’s Most-Watched on Record

This month’s College World Series was the most-watched edition of the men’s tournament on record for ESPN platforms. The 16-game tournament averaged 1.65 million viewers, up 48% from the 2022 Men’s College World Series. 

LSU and Florida three-game Finals on ESPN and ESPNU averaged 2.86 million viewers per game, up 75% from last year’s two-game Finals between Ole Miss and Oklahoma. Game 3 of this year’s Finals, which saw LSU baseball win its seventh national championship, was the most-watched MCWS game on record for ESPN platforms with 3.58 average million viewers and 4.2 million peak viewers.

Game 1 of the Finals averaged 2.745 million viewers, a 68% increase over last year’s Game 1, while Game 2’s 2.248 million average viewers was a 38% increase over the previous year. This year’s tournament aired on ESPN and ESPNU, with all games also streaming on ESPN+.

ESPN has exclusively broadcasted the Men’s College World Series since 2003. Games from the tournament have aired on ESPN since 1980, one year after the network’s debut. 

This year’s College World Series in Omaha, Neb., drew 392,946 fans across 16 games, marking the third-straight year of record-breaking attendance for the tournament. The continued attendance boom comes as the city of Omaha has committed $54 million towards building a renovated youth sports complex to become a travel destination for regional and national youth tournaments across baseball, softball, and soccer.