How Did Other Sports Broadcasts Fare On Super Bowl Sunday?

As usual, the Super Bowl dominated TV on Sunday, drawing its second highest-audience ever. 

But other sports had the misfortune of playing on the same day as Fox Sports’ 7.5-hour pregame show — and its subsequent telecast of a classic battle between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

Give these other leagues an “A” for effort. Their TV performance wasn’t bad, considering they were competing against a TV juggernaut. 

• CBS Sports drew 3.672 million viewers for its final round of rowdy WM Phoenix Open coverage. Scottie Scheffler defended his title to reclaim the World No. 1 rating. It was the most-watched final round for a PGA Tour event, since last April’s RBC Heritage on CBS. The network’s audience peaked at 4.881 viewers.
• ABC’s NBA coverage of the Boston Celtics vs. Memphis Grizzlies averaged 2.065 million viewers, per ShowBuzzDaily. That’s not bad, considering the game tipped off at 2 p.m. ET, directly opposite Fox’s Super Bowl pregame show.
• ESPN’s telecast of the women’s college basketball game between LSU and South Carolina drew 1.466 million viewers. It was the most-watched women’s regular season college hoops game since 2010. That game also tipped off at 2 p.m. ET. 

A week before, South Carolina’s matchup against UConn was the fourth-most watched in that same span, gaining 1.087 million viewers.