Manchester United 0, Chelsea 0. Perhaps the lack of offense is why you find it to be a “beautiful game” as the phrase names it.
Over 93 minutes and no score to be found as the match ended in a scoreless tie.
Yet it broke ratings records for NBC.
NBC Sports Network’s telecast averaged 536,000 viewers – tops for an NBCSN Premier League match this season and ranking #2 all-time among weekday, early season (prior to December) Premier League matches on U.S. television (540,000 for Manchester United-Tottenham, 8/22/11 on ESPN2).
The match also marked NBCSN’s best weekday audience since the 2012 London Olympics. Viewership peaked at 682,000 viewers from 4:30-4:45 p.m.
In just the second week of the campaign, last season’s first- and third-place finishers met at the Premier League’s largest stadium, Manchester United’s Old Trafford. Eight of the last nine Premier League titles have been won by either United or Chelsea and both clubs will be under tremendous scrutiny this season with new managers. Chelsea had just 8 shots, 4 of which reached goal. United had 11 shots, 3 shots on goal. Chelsea had possession for about 45%.
The 3.2 million live minutes for the match, which began at 3 p.m. ET and required verification, surpassed NBC’s two NFL preseason games this year and every Notre Dame Football stream last season, both of which did not require verification of a cable/satellite/telco subscription. It also surpassed all NHL streams with the exception of Stanley Cup Final games. In live minutes, Manchester United-Chelsea was the second-highest NBCSN stream in NBC Sports Live Extra history, behind only Game 2 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final (3,236,341).
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An analyst for 95.7 The Fan, he also writes on Chicago sports media for Chicago Now. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)