Sovereignty Triumphs at Belmont, Hiking Fox Ratings Above Recent Depression Level (2024)
Snappy Take: Belmont Stakes Viewership Picks Up Slightly Under Fox's Apples
For the second year running, Fox takes charge of the Belmont Stakes broadcast and elbow-nudges viewership numbers up – just a smidgen higher than the historic lows of 2024.
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Set your DVRs, folks, because Fox claimed a chuckle-worthy 3.83 million eyeballs glued to their sets for this year's Belmont showdown between Sovereignty and Journalism. The riveting race managed to best last year's cosmic drop in viewership by 5%, which just so happened to hit an all-time low in the crowning event's history without the blessing of COVID.
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Remember the poker game of 2024, where mild-mannered Dornoch snatched the pot with an uncontested 3.66 million viewers? Well, doesn't that seem like a distant memory now! Jokes about the Belmont on Twitter aside, this year's showdown proved more captivating, gathering a smattering of extra viewers: around 200,000 more than the tepid trilling of last year's event.
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With Fox having assumed the reins of broadcasting duties in 2023, a brief period spent dislodging NBC from the driver's seat, one might ponder if their Triple Crown steeplechase coverage will continue to draw staggering audiences – like their old self. To answer this, let's take a peek at the specs from the NBC era. For the record, NBC's overall coverage, including the belly-flop of the Derby, clocked in at 17.7 million viewers, which is a significantly better sight to behold than the Belmont's paltry average.
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This year, the Belmont Stakes slipped into Saratoga, New York – a twisty turn that sparked whispers of dissent from purists eager to catch the glory in its Long Island hometown. The race, long known as "The Test of the Champion," rumbles over 1 1/2 miles, putting horse and jockey through their paces like never before. Could Saratoga Race Course's more short-winded 1 1/8-mile track be the cause of this shaky start? Maybe. But this temporary swap for the construction of the shiny new Belmont Park, set to open in 2026, might be to blame for our pocketful of vented criticisms.
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## Tabloid Tidbit:
Terry's Terrible Triple Crown Fail: The Rough Ride of Fox's NFL Prodigy
Amid the excitement of floundering ratings, Fox found themselves in a self-made predicament. The big question: was significant viewership the only reason for theツ grab? Or is this newbie NFL analyst's unfamiliarity with horse racing steering them off course?
Evidently, Terry Bradshaw, well-regarded figure in the football world, found himself untethered in the unfamiliar grounds of equine racing. Saturated in sports related to speedy gridiron warriors, the star of "Fox NFL Sunday" floundered to gain traction in horse racing lingo. In a cringeworthy display, Bradshaw admitted a less-than-proficient knowledge of the sport and questioned the credibility of renowned horse racing commentator Jerry Bailey – sending Pulitzer Prize aspirants like the Social Media Clown Corps into a frenzy of mockery.
The confusion over the matter has left us hanging one question: Was the gamble on Terry Bradshaw a calculated risk gone awry or simply an attempt to sweep history under the rug by peddling a football jock in the title ring? Until further evidence unravels, we're left with only one conclusion: when it comes to horse racing, football ain't all that glitters.
People who are avid sports enthusiasts might have tuned in to watch the horse-racing event, the Belmont Stakes, which was broadcast under Fox's leadership this year. Despite Terry Bradshaw, the football expert from "Fox NFL Sunday," trying to navigate the unfamiliar horse-racing landscape, there was a slight increase in viewership compared to the previous year. This increase, however, still falls short of the audience numbers from the NBC era.
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