College softball shows no signs of slowing down as a viewership sport.
Game 3 of the Women’s College World Series between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and Texas Longhorns averaged 2.4 million viewers on ESPN last Friday. Per the network, it’s the most-watched collegiate softball game ever. Viewership peaked at 2.7 million viewers for Game 3.
Game 3 of the 2025 #WCWS Champ Series was the MOST-WATCHED @NCAASoftball game EVER 🙌
Complete ’25 WCWS viewership coming Tuesday pic.twitter.com/T8vwOGJ18D
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) June 9, 2025
The Longhorns’ 10-4 win to secure their first ever national title in the sport came on the heels of two other record-setting games earlier in the series. Game 1 averaged 2.1 million viewers on Wednesday, beating out last year’s Oklahoma-Texas opener by 11% (1.91 million viewers). Game 2 also averaged 2.1 million viewers on Thursday, increasing the audience of last year’s series by 5%.
To make the record even more impressive, Texas Tech-Texas competed head-to-head with Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers, a double-overtime thriller that aired on TNT. Viewership figures for that game are not yet available, but Game 1 of the WCWS nearly matched the NHL’s audience the same night.
At this point it goes without saying, but college softball is a vital part of ESPN’s spring programming lineup at this point. It once again raises the question, did the NCAA leave money on the table in its last media rights negotiation?
ESPN certainly has to feel like it made out well with those kinds of viewership numbers.
