Belmont Stakes broadcast draws 4 million viewers

A broadcast of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday on NBC drew 4 million viewers at its peak, when Tiz the Law won the race, according to network officials.

This year’s Belmont Stakes was billed as the first leg of the Triple Crown, due to the rescheduling of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes to this fall. The broadcast was advertised extensively by NBC and its sister networks in the week leading up to the race. It was run at 1 1/8 miles, rather than its traditional distance of 1 1/2 miles, and had a post time of 5:45 p.m. Eastern, roughly one hour earlier than usual.

Last year, the Belmont broadcast peaked at 4.9 million viewers. No Triple Crown was on the line. In 2018, when Justify won the Triple Crown in the Belmont, the broadcast peaked at 12.7 million viewers.

NBC officials said that the Belmont broadcast was the highest-rated sporting event on television last weekend. Of course, very few sporting events were held over the weekend due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, though the PGA Tour held a tournament for the second-straight week and soccer leagues in Europe started up again.

Louisville led all of the metered major markets, with a household rating of 5.8 and a 14 share, followed by West Palm Beach in Florida and Baltimore in Maryland. The New York market had a 4.0 household rating and 12 share.