The Most-Watched Sports Events of All Time

Americans have a reputation for knowing how to work hard and play hard. When it comes to sports, though, it seems that the lines between work and play become slightly blurred, as most Americans take their sport of choice as seriously as any job – faithfully tuning in to game after game on the radio and cable TV, though eventually upgrading their television sets and broadcasting systems to enable all of their favorite team’s matches and insider info in high definition via satellite TV, and of course schlepping the whole family and then some to weekend matches, tailgating included of course.

So what happens when a favorite sports team makes it to their league’s final match, competing for the top coveted position of best in the game? These sports fans go ballistic. But getting your hands on tickets for the playoffs and championship games in any sport is next to impossible. So fans tune in, like clockwork, on their TVs. And tune in they do. Read on for a run-down of the most-watched televised sports events in history.

Starting with the fifth place match is Super Bowl XII, the 1978 game that saw the Dallas Cowboys take on the Denver Broncos. About 34.3 million viewers tuned in for the January 15th game to watch the Cowboys defeat the Broncos, 27-10, at the Louisiana Superdome.

The forth place most-watched televised sports event ever was another football championship game, Super Bowl XX, when the Chicago Bears smothered the New England Patriots 46-10. This 1986 match was also held at the Superdome in Louisiana and was the first national championship for the Bears.

The third most-watched sports event in history was not a Super Bowl game, but an ice skating competition, between Olympic arch-rivals Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. This 1994 Olympic competition, which took place in Norway, saw the victorious Kerrigan win the silver medal, just months after having been clubbed in the knees by Harding’s hitman. The widely-publicized scandal pulled in millions of viewers for the women’s figure skating short program.

Aside from the dramatic episode between vengeful figure skaters, the viewership records go back to football. Super Bowl XVII of 1983 ranks in as the second most-watched sports event ever. 40 million tuned in to see running back John Riggins lead the Washington Redskins defeat the Miami Dolphins, 27-17.

So what tops all of these? Super Bowl XVI, the 1982 face-off between the San Francisco 49ers and the Cincinnati Bengals at Michigan’s Pontiac Silverdome. 40.02 million viewers set their sets to watch MVP 49er Joe Montana lead San Francisco to a lead over the Bengals, 26-21.

Now just imagine how things are different for these millions of NFL fans who now have access to special subscription-based satellite TV programming, such as the NFL Sunday Ticket, to get the most of their favorite team, all the time. And even better than just the heavy-duty programming is how you get to watch it – in HD, with superfine image quality and surround sound, to absorb viewers completely in the event, almost as if they were there in person.

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