NFL’s Opening Week Dominates Nielsens: The Week in Sports Ratings

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ESPN’s U.S. Open coverage sweeps non-football ratings list

Jahmyr Gibbs #26 of the Detroit Lions runs with the football during the fourth quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on September 7, 2023
Jahmyr Gibbs of the Detroit Lions runs with the football during the fourth quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs on September 7. (Image credit: NBC)

The National Football League’s opening week of the 2023 season was a ratings goldmine for the broadcast networks last week, while ESPN’s U.S. Open coverage aced all non-football sports events. 

NFL action accounted for the top five most-watched shows of the week, led by NBC’s September 7 season-opening Detroit Lions-Kansas City Chiefs game. The Thursday night kickoff game garnered more than 24.75 million viewers, according to Nielsen numbers published by SportsMedia Watch. 

NBC’s September 10 Sunday Night Football Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants telecast was third for the week with 20.17 million viewers. Combined with its Thursday night telecast, NBC’s opening week games were the two most-watched primetime shows since February’s Super Bowl LVII  telecast on Fox, according to NBC.

The most watched college football telecast of the week was Fox’s September 9 Nebraska-Colorado game, marking Deion Sanders’s first home game as coach of the Buffaloes. ESPN’s September 9 telecast of the Texas Longhorns' upset of the Alabama Crimson Tide was second for the week with 7.9 million viewers. 

ESPN’s U.S. Open tennis telecasts captured the top five most-watched non-football events of the week, led by its September 9 coverage of Coco Gauff’s win in the women’s finals, which drew 3.42 million viewers, according to Nielsen.  

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Top-Rated Live Sports Events, Sept. 4-10
DateEvent NetworkViewership
Sept. 7NBC Thursday Night FootallNBC24.75 milion
Sept. 10 CBS NFL Football CBS21.35 million
Sept. 10NBC Sunday Night FootballNBC20.17 million
Sept. 10Fox NFL FootballFox 16.27 million
Sept. 10CBS NFL FootballCBS12.82 million
Row 6 - Cell 0 Row 6 - Cell 1 Row 6 - Cell 2 Row 6 - Cell 3
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Top-Rated Live Sports Events (Non-Football) Sept. 4-11
DateEventNetworkViewership
Sept. 9U.S. Open Tennis (women's finals)ESPN3.42 million
Sept. 8U.S. Open Tennis (men's semi-finals)ESPN2.26 million
Sept. 10U.S. Open Tennis (men's finals)ESPN2.32 million
Sept. 7U.S. Open Tennis (women's semi-finals)ESPN1.83 million
Sept. 6 U.S. Open Tennis (quarterfinals)ESPN 1.80 million
R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.