Entering Sunday, the Americas appeared to be doomed to defeat, but Team USA staged a massive comeback at Beth Page Black. Did people tune to see?
A TV rating for the Sunday Rider Cup has been announced, and the US team’s desperate comeback in the singles part of the three-day competition couldn’t avoid a massive drop in viewers.
Team Europe entered the day and took an 11.5-4.5 lead over Team USA. After Viktor Hovland had to withdraw due to injury, after his match against Harris English was in halves before being hit on Sunday, the Europeans only needed 2.5 of the remaining 11 points to hold the cup. With that in mind, SportsBusinessJournal.com reports that an average of 3.22 million viewers are tailored to NBC and the Peacock, with a peak of 5.3 million viewers between 5am and 5:15am.
For context, Sunday’s broadcast attracted 1.3 million viewers two years ago when a US team was defeated by Europeans in Italy’s Roman suburbs. Still, Sunday shows the lowest numbers for the Ryder Cup contested in the US this century.
The Ryder Cup is not one of the biggest glasses in golf. It’s also a TV show. And like a good drama, it lives and dies in suspense. As the match is near and the result is on the final putt, America will tune. Once the match is blown away, the rating continues with suits and tanks.
Consider Medina in 2012. Europe has made a miraculous comeback, with the broadcast transforming into the most watched Ryder Cup in NBC’s history, with 5.5 million fans glued to the screen. The tensions in Chicago were unbearable, Pat was unforgettable, and the audience never left. Fast forward to the Moore String Strait in 2021, when the US trampleted Europe 19-9, and the audience on the last day barely cracked 3.5 million.
The American team was dominant, but that wasn’t important for television viewers who need to decide on a romp between the US romp and the NFL game on Sunday. When golf dramas disappeared, many viewers chose soccer. Two years later, viewers fell even further, just as the Americans left and faced a six-hour time difference between Rome and the East Coast of America.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Sky Sports reported that Sunday’s action broadcast on Beth Page Black was a huge hit to viewers.
On Sunday evening, one in four (UK) TV viewers saw the dramatic ending of a single, which includes more than 40% of those under the age of 35. The audience peaked shortly after 22.00 (10pm) for the nail biting finale, making it the best for golf at Sky Sports, winning Masters victory for Medina and Rory Myra Roy in the 2012 Ryder Cup. – Sky Sports
NBC’s contract with the American PGA will air the Ryder Cup until 2031, but this is clear two years before the next Ryder Cup. Suspense sells, golf fans are craving the pain and ecstasy of momentum swings, and they believe the outcome is an unforgettable conclusion and the evaluation is painful.
Sunday was Beth Page Black, and the US team faced another mountain of inevitability. Europe began the singles competition with a lead of 11.5 to 4.5 and had to score 2.5 of the 12 points of the day to hold the cup. For NBC, this is a nightmare scenario, the day after abusive language, drunken behavior, and fans on Beth Page overcome the limits of acceptable behavior at any sporting event. The Primetime Stage in New York, but the drama has already disappeared before one ball is hit. The crowd on the course might scream, but the remote control was inevitably clicking. The Ryder Cup continues to be one of golf’s biggest theatres, but seeing the theatre lacking in suspense is simply watching the rehearsals rather than the show. Team USA can’t feel like 2012 like 2012, and NBC’s ratings department wonders if America sees this biennial fight as a must-see television, or just transformed into another late-season exhibition.
