The NFL TV ratings are a juggernaut, and they have been for some time. Every Sunday, families gather in front of the TV to watch not only their favorite teams but also teams stationed thousands of miles from their hometown. This isn’t just the regular season; last year, the league averaged 18.7 million viewers per contest. It’s not just the playoffs, which garner greater results, or even the Super Bowl, which shatters records every year as the most-watched event on television.
The crazy viewership numbers extend to the preseason, where backups get significant playing time, hoping to make the practice squad. The Hall of Fame Game, which was televised on NBC and Peacock on August 6th, drew seven million viewers, and by all accounts, it was not a game people would normally tune into. The two teams competing (The Arizona Cardinals and the Carolina Panthers) had a combined record of 11-23 last season.
Bad records mean high draft picks, but people weren’t tuning in to see them either, since first-round picks Jeremiyah Love and Monroe Freeling were held out of the exhibition. Professional Football is apparently so popular that millions will tune in to a game that doesn’t count, featuring players who might not even make the roster. By comparison, those seven million viewers are more than the highest-rated regular-season Major League Baseball (MLB) game this year (four million), more than the highest-rated regular-season NBA game last year (3.4 million), and more than any NHL game (2.1 million) including the highest-rated Stanley Cup Finals matchup (Game 3, 5.9 million).
NFL TV Ratings: What Is Happening To The Other Sports?
It’s understandable that the NFL would dwarf the other major sports. They only play 17 regular-season games, versus 82 or 162. Each week can literally change the trajectory of the season and the entire franchise. Jumping back three decades to 1993, the average NFL game garnered 15.5 million viewers, which means viewership has increased by 20% in 30 years.
Other sports, not so much. In 1993, the MLB averaged 4.1 million viewers per game, and the NBA drew 2.29 million. Both have decreased viewership over the last 30 years. The MLB has seen a 44% drop in viewers (2.30 million on average in 2025), and the NBA has dropped 22.2% (1.78 million viewers). Neither league can blame the NFL for stealing viewers, because every league should have increased in viewership as the country’s population grew (from 260 million in 1993 to 342 million in 2025).
The MLB and NBA are getting beaten in the ratings by Major League Soccer (3.70 million viewers per game). What’s happened to two American pastimes? The loss in viewers for baseball makes sense. The world has become all about 15-second TikToks, short attention spans, and instant gratification. Waiting one boring pitch after another for something exciting to happen just isn’t in the cards for a league whose average viewer is eligible for Social Security.
The NBA has no excuse, though. The game is fast-paced, with a potential highlight on every possession. It’s actually a faster-paced game than football, so the decrease in viewership makes no sense. Is it a lack of star power? 1993 saw the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan at their peak. Perhaps there’s nobody in the league today that anyone wants to watch. Not even The King. This topic was discussed at the 13:00 minute mark of the Lights Out Sports Podcast on Tuesday.
Football is in a good place and has to be happy with its year-over-year performance. The rest of the sports are in trouble, though, and could a future possibly exist where baseball and basketball don’t?
