Rich Eisen’s ‘SportsCenter’ return draws strong viewership for ESPN

Unsurprisingly, Rich Eisen’s return to the SportsCenter desk drew a strong audience for ESPN on Monday.

According to a report by Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, Eisen’s episode of SportsCenter averaged 708,000 viewers following a preseason edition of Monday Night Football between the Washington Commanders and Cincinnati Bengals. The audience was 67% larger than SportsCenter‘s normal average in the 11 p.m. ET window, was the most-watched edition of the show in that window since mid-June, and even beat out Eisen’s last SportsCenter appearance in 2003.

Apparently this @richeisen guy has a future if he wants to host @SportsCenter

Eisen’s return Monday night (1st time in 20+ years) got 708,000 viewers

🔲67% above “SC” avg. this year to date for 11pm
🔲Most-viewed 11pm “SC” since mid-June
🔲Above Eisen’s last “SC” in 2003 (670K)

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) August 20, 2025

Of course, there are some obvious caveats to go over here. Most 11 p.m. ET episodes of SportsCenter don’t have the benefit of airing directly after an NFL game. Even preseason NFL games tend to far out-rate regular-season games from any other North American professional sports league. (Viewership for Monday’s game was not immediately available.) As such, it’s not surprising that Eisen’s SportsCenter was the most-watched in the time slot since the period coinciding with the NBA Finals.

Nevertheless, Eisen’s return was incredibly well-received. So much so, that ESPN has already announced he’ll return for select SportsCenter telecasts in the future.

The Rich Eisen Show will begin to stream live on ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer app starting on Sept. 2.