Sunday was the type of day ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen had to be dreaming about when he created the all-sports network back in 1979. It started with the final round of the Open Championship from 8 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. Eastern time. Then transitioning to the Women’s World Cup Final between the USA and Japan, the epic game that ran until just about 5:30 p.m. And it was all capped off by Sunday Night Baseball between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, a 16-inning marathon that ended at 1:57 a.m. early Monday.
Thanks to the fine people at ESPN for getting me the numbers for what turned out to be an epic sports day. We have the ratings and the viewership
Open Championship, Final Round: 8 a.m. — 1:36 p.m.: 2.6 rating/3.2 million viewers
Women’s World Cup Final, USA vs. Japan: 2:30 p.m. — 5:30 p.m.: 7.4 rating/13.458 million viewers
Sunday Night Baseball, Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays: 7:59 p.m. — 1:57 a.m.: 2.0 rating
Average rating: 2.8 rating
Average viewership: 3.861 million viewers
Overall, a busy day for ESPN and you can also factor in that World Cup Live postgame for USA-Japan also received an astonishing 5.9 million viewers so people stuck with the network for the aftermath.
Thanks to Bill Hofheimer at ESPN’s public relations department for helping me with the ratings and viewership.
