In a year with an Olympics and World Cup, 80 percent of the top sports audiences in 2018 belonged to the NFL. [Click here to jump straight to the main list, here for the list with the NFL excluded, and here for a list of the most-watched events by sport and network.]

The NFL generated 40 of the top 50 U.S. sports audiences in 2018, the same as last year, and up from the previous Olympic/World Cup year in 2014 (37). Super Bowl 52 led the way with 103.39 million viewers, the smallest audience for the game since 2009, but still the tenth-largest audience in U.S. TV history.

The Alabama-Georgia college football national championship was the top non-NFL event, scoring a 15.6 rating and 28.44 million on the ESPN family of networks. That was followed by the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics on NBC (14.7, 27.84M).

College football and the Olympics were the only non-NFL events to crack the top 50. Outside of football and the Olympics, no sporting event in 2018 cracked 19 million viewers, with Game 2 of the NBA Finals coming closest (10.3, 18.47M).

2018 was the first year on record in which no sporting event outside of football and the Olympics cracked 19 million viewers. Even in other relatively lean years, at least one event would slip past the 19 million mark.

(All viewership figures for ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU include streaming viewership. For all other networks — including ABC — viewership only includes streaming if enclosed within parentheses.)

SportsMediaWatch.com # SPORT GAME RTG VWRS NET 1 NFL Eagles-Patriots

Super Bowl 52 43.1 103.39M

(106M) NBC 2 NFL Jaguars-Patriots

AFC Championship 24.3 44.08M CBS 3 NFL Vikings-Eagles

NFC Championship 21.7 42.30M

(42.77M) FOX 4 NFL Saints-Vikings

NFC Divisional 19.3 35.65M

(36.02M) FOX 5 NFL Jaguars-Steelers

AFC Divisional 18.3 31.45M CBS 6 NFL Panthers-Saints

NFC Wild Card 17.5 31.15M FOX 7 NFL Washington-Cowboys

Thanksgiving special 12.5 30.48M FOX 8 CFB Alabama-Georgia

National Championship 15.6 28.44M ESPN, ESPN2

ESPNU 9 OLY Winter Olympics

Opening Ceremony 14.7 27.84M NBC 10 NFL Falcons-Eagles

NFC Divisional 15.5 27.07M NBC 11 CFB Georgia-Oklahoma

Rose Bowl 13.7 26.91M ESPN/ESPN2 12 NFL Titans-Patriots

AFC Divisional 14.5 26.69M CBS 13 NFL Bears-Lions

Thanksgiving special 12.3 26.50M CBS 14 OLY Winter Olympics

Night 2 14.2 (26.0M) NBC/NBCSN 15 NFL Bills-Jaguars

AFC Wild Card 15.2 25.30M CBS 16 NFL Eagles-Cowboys (84%)

Week 14 Nat’l Window 14.2 25.12M FOX 17 NFL Patriots-Steelers

Week 15 Nat’l Window 14.2 24.57M CBS 18 OLY Winter Olympics

Night 1 13.1 (24.2M) NBC/NBCSN 19 NFL Steelers-Saints

Week 16 Nat’l Window 13.4 23.92M CBS 20 NFL Patriots-Packers

Week 9 SNF 13.7 23.68M

(24.1M) NBC 21 NFL Steelers-Broncos (87%)

Week 12 Nat’l Window 13.5 23.66M CBS 22 NFL Cowboys-Panthers (80%)

Week 1 Nat’l Window 13.1 23.30M FOX 23 NFL Vikings-Patriots (90%)

Week 13 Nat’l Window 13.5 23.20M FOX 24 NFL Falcons-Rams

NFC Wild Card 12.8 22.82M NBC 25 OLY Winter Olympics

Night 4 13.1 (22.6M) NBC/NBCSN 26 OLY Winter Olympics

Night 3 12.7 (22.3M) NBC/NBCSN 27 NFL Cowboys-Seahawks (85%)

Week 3 Nat’l Window 12.7 22.20M FOX 28 NFL Titans-Chiefs

AFC Wild Card 13.0 22.18M ABC/ESPN 29 NFL Rams-Saints

Week 9 Nat’l Window 13.0 22.12M FOX 30 NFL Bears-Packers

Week 1 SNF 12.5 22.12M NBC 31 NFL Packers-Rams (94%)

Week 8 Nat’l Window 12.8 21.88M FOX 32 NFL Falcons-Saints

Thanksgiving special 10.1 21.70M

(21.9M) NBC 33 CFB Alabama-Clemson

Sugar Bowl 11.4 21.47M ESPN/ESPN2 34 NFL Saints-Cowboys

Week 13 TNF 12.5 21.32M

(22.2M) FOX/NFLN 35 NFL Bears-Vikings (49%)

Week 17 Nat’l Window 11.7 21.21M FOX 36 NFL Chiefs-Patriots

Week 6 SNF 12.3 21.11M

(21.5M) NBC 37 NFL Vikings-Eagles (82%)

Week 5 Nat’l Window 12.2 21.04M FOX 38 NFL Patriots-Jaguars (79%)

Week 2 Nat’l Window 12.0 20.97M CBS 39 NFL Cowboys-Washington (80%)

Week 7 Nat’l Window 12.2 20.88M CBS 40 NFL Seahawks-Rams (76%)

Week 10 Nat’l Window 12.1 20.79M CBS 41 NFL Saints-Giants (74%)

Week 4 Nat’l Window 12.1 20.69M CBS 42 NFL Giants-Cowboys

Week 2 SNF 11.7 20.66M

(21.0M) NBC 43 OLY Winter Olympics

Night 11 12.1 (20.5M) NBC/NBCSN 44 NFL Packers-Vikings

Week 12 SNF 11.6 20.44M NBC 45 NFL Cowboys-Eagles

Week 10 SNF 11.5 20.10M NBC 46 NFL Cowboys-Colts (46%)

Week 15 Singleheader 11.7 20.03M FOX 47 NFL Chiefs-Seahawks

Week 16 SNF 10.9 19.57M NBC 48 NFL Patriots-Lions

Week 3 SNF 11.5 19.46M

(19.8M) NBC 49 NFL Rams-Bears

Week 14 SNF 11.2 19.39M NBC 50 OLY Winter Olympics

Night 6 11.4 (19.3M) NBC/NBCSN