World Series Update: TV Ratings Rise, NYC Ticket Prices Fall

As expected, the 2024 World Series has been a gift for Fox and Major League Baseball.

The first two games of the series between the Dodgers and Yankees averaged 14.5 million viewers across Fox networks, the most through two games since 2017, Fox announced Sunday.

Saturday’s game averaged 13.44 million viewers and peaked at 16.35 million, the most-watched Game 2 since Dodgers–Red Sox in 2018. The Fox audience was up 65% relative to Game 2 of the 2023 World Series.

However, Game 2 saw a slight dip versus the 15.2 million average and 17.8 million peak viewership of Game 1—though the first game went to extra innings and featured a walk-off grand slam from Freddie Freeman.

Los Angeles has been carried by stellar pitching despite significant injuries to several high-priced arms, as well as a three-home-run power surge in Game 2.  Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, the regular-season AL home-run and RBI leader, has continued an abysmal postseason run. Through two games in the Fall Classic, Judge has recorded just one hit in nine at-bats with six strikeouts. If New York intends to extend this series—which would be beneficial for the league and its partners—Judge, the AL MVP favorite who is third in MLB jersey sales, may need to find his form.

Ticket Prices Fall in New York

The series is now headed to New York, but with the Dodgers ahead 2–0, ticket prices for Games 3–5 in Yankee Stadium have dropped since the beginning of the series.

According to TickPick, the get-in price, which is the minimum cost of a ticket, is $922 as of Sunday, which is down about 40% from the $1,521 price on Friday, Oct. 24—the day of the series opener. The average ticket price for the three games in The Bronx is $2,112, down around 30% from Friday.

Despite the dip, the tickets are still some of the most expensive in World Series history, and the average of the three games in Yankee Stadium is nearly three times as much as last year’s World Series average.