The broadcast of the Preakness Stakes on NBC was watched by 5.9 million viewers, NBC said on Tuesday, down significantly from the 7 million viewership number posted last year for the race.
This year’s Preakness did not include the winner of the Kentucky Derby, Sovereignty, whose connections announced just days after the Derby that the horse would skip the race and point for the third leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes. The defection resurrected a debate on whether the Triple Crown races should be spaced farther apart.
Last year’s Preakness included the Derby winner, Mystik Dan. Viewership numbers are generally higher when the Derby winner runs back in the Preakness.
The average viewership number for the final 50 minutes of the broadcast, from 6:35 p.m. Eastern to 7:25, was 4.6 million viewers when including the figures for NBC and its streaming service, Peacock, the network said. Last year, the average viewership number for the final hour of the broadcast was 5.5 million.
Despite the decline, the Preakness was the most watched sporting event on Saturday, besting the third round of the PGA Championship and the season opener of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, a team headed by superstar Caitlin Clark.
NBC has the broadcast rights to the Preakness through next year. The rights to the 2027 broadcast and beyond are expected to be pursued by both NBC and Fox Sports, which holds the broadcast rights to the Belmont Stakes through 2030.
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