This June, sports fans will have a variety of top-tier sporting events to watch on television and online. Included will be many of the biggest names in sports today: Serena Williams, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Alex Ovechkin and Justify, to name a few.
For a fourth straight year, the NBA finals will feature the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. No other league championship has had the same two teams competing for four consecutive years. The rivalry has been popular with viewers-- the average audience for the NBA finals in 2017 was 20.4 million, the most since 1998 when Michael Jordan played. The NBA finals, on ABC, is coming on the heels of two exciting conference finals in which both series went the full seven games, something that hasn't happened since 1979. The 2018 Western Conference finals on TNT averaged 9.4 million viewers, a 45% increase from one year ago. The 2018 Eastern Conference finals on ESPN/ABC averaged 8.45 million viewers, up 34% from 2017. This also marks the eighth straight year LeBron James is playing in the NBA finals, only four players, all on the Boston Celtics from the 1950s and 1960s, played in more consecutive finals.
By comparison, the NHL Stanley Cup finals on NBC and NBCSN features two teams (Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights) that have collectively played in just one championship series. Nonetheless, there are some compelling storylines. The expansion Vegas Golden Knights, the first major sports franchise based in Las Vegas (the NFL’s Oakland Raiders plan to relocate there by 2020), incredibly won their division in their first season. Vegas wound up with 109 points, the fifth highest in a 31-team league. If Vegas captures the Stanley Cup, it will mark the first time an expansion team won a league championship in any major sport. Also, Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, a three-time MVP, will be playing in his first Stanley Cup final. Ovechkin led the league with 49 goals in 2017-18 and is one of only 20 NHL players with over 600 career goals. The Capitals were swept in the 1998 Stanley Cup finals in their only other appearance. Last year, the Stanley Cup finals averaged 4.7 million viewers.
Tiger Woods is expected to play in the U.S. Open, from Shinnecock Hills, New York, for the first time in three years. Woods won his 14th and last major at the U.S. Open ten years ago. Fox is hoping Woods can reclaim his winning ways. The final round of the U.S. Open has averaged over ten million viewers, three times since 1995, with Woods winning the tournament all three times. Last year, with no Woods or Phil Mickelson playing, the final round averaged 5.1 million viewers, the second lowest since 1981.
When a thoroughbred is racing for the Triple Crown, the average audience for the Belmont Stakes on NBC can expect a surge in viewers. In 2018, Justify will be attempting to become only the second horse since 1978 to win the Triple Crown. In 2014, California Chrome entered the Belmont Stakes with an opportunity of winning the Triple Crown and, although the horse failed, the telecast averaged 20.6 million viewers. The following year, when American Pharoah became only the 12th horse to win the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes averaged 18.6 million viewers. By comparison, in 2016 and 2017 with no chance for a Triple Crown winner, the Belmont Stakes averaged 5.8 million and 4.9 million viewers, respectively.
While the French Open is not as popular as Wimbledon or the U.S. Open, this year’s tennis tournament marks the return of Serena Williams. Williams, who has won an Open-era record 23 majors singles titles, last played in a Grand Slam event when she defeated her sister, Venus, to win the Australian Open in January 2017. At the time, Serena was pregnant. After a 16-month hiatus and being unseeded, Williams will look to extend her record in major tournament victories at Roland Garros. NBC is hopeful Williams makes it to the finals, which last year averaged only 1.1 million viewers, a 28% fall-off from 2016.
The biggest sporting event of the month, however, is the quadrennial FIFA Men’s World Cup soccer tournament. The month-long event starts on June 14. The World Cup is the second most popular global sporting event, behind only the Olympics, and an estimated 3.2 billion people tuned in to watch in 2014. The tournament will feature two of best soccer players in the world: Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Lionel Messi of Argentina. Over the past decade, both have won the FIFA Ballon d’Or, awarded to the best men’s player, five times each.