Football continues to be king.
The latest proof comes from the performance of a Week One preseason game on NFL Network versus regular-season baseball on Fox.
Via Anthony Crupi of Sportico.com, the Seahawks-Steelers game had an average audience of 2.16 million viewers on NFLN. Fox generated an average audience of 2.08 million for a nationwide showing of Yankees-Red Sox or Mariners-Rangers.
As noted by Crupi, Fox is in roughly 40 million more homes than NFL Network.
We’ve come to expect this kind of ratings dominance by the NFL. Preseason football outperforms regular-season baseball. Regular-season football trounces postseason baseball. Postseason football is untouchable by anything. And the two-hand touch exhibition that is the Pro Bowl nearly performs as well as the MLB All-Star Game, a highlight of the baseball’s annual TV calendar.