ESPN Sees Best MLB Game Ratings in 9 Years, as Both Teams Kneel in Support of Black Lives Matter on Opening Day
Photo credit: Courtesy of New York Yankees
ESPN saw its best regular-season ratings for a major-league baseball game since 2011 on Thursday night, as its 2020 Opening Day broadcast attracted four million total viewers.
According to CNBC, this year’s start to the regular season between the New York Yankees and then 2019 World Series champion Washington Nationals was up a whopping 232% over last year’s broadcast of the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners, which only pulled in an audience of 1.2 million.
Thursday’s game was strikingly different from previous Opening Days in myriad ways due the coronavirus pandemic. It arrived at a point that is normally two-thirds through a normal regular season, no fans were in attendance, and the first pitch was thrown out by the nation’s top expert in infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
In addition, all the Yankees and Nationals showed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement prior to the playing of the National Anthem, as players and coaches for both teams lined up along a black streamer and knelt during a moment of silence.
Players from both teams kneel together in unity before tonight’s National Anthem. #OpeningDay #NYYforNY pic.twitter.com/ptW2FgfzUe
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 23, 2020
ESPN also enjoyed its best-ever, late-night (ET) MLB ratings for its broadcast of the West Coast game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants with 2.7 million total viewers. Before that game, Giants manager Gabe Kapler and Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts also knelt in solidarity with the BLM movement.
