TV Ratings: Clearwater Finale Between UCLA and Florida State Draws Record Numbers

Florida State’s 4-3, extra-inning win over UCLA on Sunday night brought in 620,000 television viewers on ESPN, according to ShowBuzzDaily.com.

Based on immediately-available historical television broadcast numbers, the game appears to be the first regular season college softball contest to cross the 600,000-viewer plateau since at least 2015.

The matchup – which featured a walk-off double by Florida State’s Kalei Harding – was the most-watched game from the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational since the tournament’s inception. The 2020 tournament finale, also between UCLA and Florida State, held the previous viewership record and drew 380,000 viewers when it aired on ESPN2.

According to viewership numbers provided by ShowBuzzDaily, the 2022 edition of Seminoles/Bruins was Sunday’s 20th-highest-rated cable program in the 18-49 demographic.

The primetime game was also the most-watched program on the ESPN family of networks on Sunday, beating the likes of men’s college basketball games between Memphis/SMU (534k viewers) and Houston/Wichita State (441k). It also drew more viewers than Saturday’s Xavier/UConn men’s basketball game, which aired to 529,000 viewers on FOX.

Other notable showings on the airwaves from Clearwater included Saturday’s UCLA/Texas matchup, which drew 160,000 viewers in its airing on ESPNU; Sunday afternoon’s UCLA/Wisconsin broadcast which drew 109,000 viewers on ESPNU; and Sunday morning’s Clemson/Washington matchup that brought in 97,000 viewers on ESPNU.