The 2023 Men’s College World Series (MCWS) was the most-watched men’s CWS on ESPN platforms on record, ESPN announced Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know:
- The 16-game postseason averaged 1.65 million viewers on ESPN platforms, which was a 48 percent increase from the 2022 College World Series.
- The finals saw a record audience, averaging 2.86 million viewers on ESPN and ESPNU across the three-game series, up 75 percent from last year’s two-game finals.
- LSU beat Florida 18-4 in Game 3 on Monday to win its seventh national title and its first since 2009.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
College sports scoring high viewership numbers
College sports has been on a phenomenal tear in 2023 when it comes to sports viewership. The women’s college basketball title game between LSU and Iowa drew an earth-shattering 9.9 million viewers in April. Earlier this month, the men’s lacrosse title game between Notre Dame and Duke averaged 757,000 viewers, the most-watched lacrosse title game since 2007.
Also in June: the Women’s College World Series title game averaged 1.9 million viewers and peaked at 2.3 million, a seven percent increase from last year. And now we see the Men’s College World Series following a similar track.
The big story here is the NCAA’s longterm deal with ESPN to broadcast all Division I championships outside of football and men’s basketball expires after the 2023-24 season. How many, if any, of these sports championships will go to market individually? It’s a big sports story to follow. — Deitsch
What made this year’s CWS special?
Star power. Major brands. Big draft prospects. It’s rare that certain college teams build up a storyline all season, but most of the country was well aware of the incredible Wake Forest pitching staff and the “superteam” vibe around LSU.
The Tigers had the expected first and second picks of the draft in Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes. Wake Forest had likely top-10 pick Rhett Lowder. Then finalist Florida had potential top-five pick Wyatt Langford. So the biggest stars of the sport (and the future stars of the MLB) were on the biggest stage.
Then, the games were just incredible. The first three games were all decided by either home runs in the ninth inning or an eighth inning comeback. LSU played SEC rival Tennessee twice and then a full, epic three-game series with Wake Forest decided by an extra inning home run.
That was all before the final! So they were simply a lot of games that people wanted to tune into. — Miller
Backstory
Game 3 of the finals was the most-watched men’s College World Series game for ESPN platforms, as it averaged 3.58 million viewers and peaked at 4.2 million viewers.
Game 1 of the finals recorded 2.75 million viewers and was up 68 percent from last year. It was the most-watch finals Game 1 on ESPN platforms and fourth-best men’s College World Series on record.
Game 2 notched 2.25 million viewers, a 38 percent increase over last year’s Game 2 in the finals. It was the second-best viewership audience for a finals Game 2 on ESPN behind 2009.
Required reading
(Photo: Jay Biggerstaff / Getty Images)
