Most-watched sports telecasts: the charts
Nielsen average audience, one figure per telecast; a final or revised figure replaces a preliminary one. Composites, peaks, reach and self-reported figures do not chart.
9,919
eligible telecasts
updated 2026-09-15
Top events · September 2026
Full chart1
New England Patriots at Seattle Seahawks
25,100,000
2
San Francisco 49ers at Los Angeles Rams
18,500,000
3
Wisconsin Badgers at Notre Dame Fighting Irish
7,421,000
4
Clemson Tigers at LSU Tigers
5,755,000
5
Washington State Cougars at Washington Huskies
5,136,000
6
Boise State Broncos at Oregon Ducks
4,831,000
7
Louisville Cardinals at Ole Miss Rebels
4,695,000
8
Baylor Bears at Auburn Tigers
4,244,000
9
Western Michigan Broncos at Michigan Wolverines
4,135,000
10
SMU Mustangs at Florida State Seminoles
4,070,000
Top 10 of 28 eligible telecasts · computed 2026-09-15 08:17 UTC
Top telecast by sport
1
NFL
127,713,000
2
MLB
54,860,000
3
Olympics
40,700,000
4
FIFA
38,937,000
5
NBA
35,890,000
6
College Basketball
35,110,000
7
College Football
33,400,000
8
FIFA Women's
25,400,000
9
Golf
20,300,000
10
NASCAR
19,400,000
11
Horse Racing
18,030,000
12
NHL
8,723,000
13
UFC
7,000,000
14
IndyCar
6,711,000
15
Tennis
3,925,000
16
WNBA
3,440,000
17
Formula 1
3,070,000
By year
All-timeMonths of 2026
By decade
Rankings move as archive ingestion adds telecasts; cite the computed timestamp with the rank.