Tuesday's historic Major League Baseball exhibition game on ESPN, in which the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Cuban National Team, is the highest-rated MLB preseason telecast - Spring Training or exhibition - on any network since 2004, according to Nielsen. It generated a 0.8 metered market rating. The game was played in front of approximately 55,000 fans, including President Barack Obama, at Estadio Latinoamericano, in Havana, Cuba.
In addition, it became the most-streamed MLB preseason game ever on WatchESPN, generating 5.4 million total minutes viewed and 99,000 unique viewers. This beats the previous record of 1.2 million total minutes viewed and 27,000 unique viewers, set on March 17, 2015 for the Boston Red Sox-Atlanta Braves Spring Training game.
Locally, the telecast delivered a 3.9 rating in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market, which is the best on record for an
ESPN Spring Training or exhibition game in the market.
Tuesday's exhibition was the first time Cuba has hosted a Major League Baseball game since March 28, 1999, when the Baltimore Orioles played the Cuban National Team. The game aired nationally on ESPN.
Image courtesy of
ESPN Press
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