On Tuesday night, there were plenty of sports to watch on television. Professional wrestling like WWE Smackdown! Live, college basketball games featuring powerhouse programs and heavyweight matchups between top NBA teams.
Interestingly enough, per TV By The Numbers‘ Joseph Regent, despite Duke University’s freshman phenom Zion Williamson being out with a minor injury, the Duke and Virginia Tech game had more viewers than Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors matchup.
Celtics – Raptors had 1,246,000 viewers, while Duke – Virginia Tech had 1,665,000 viewers. If you were wondering, WWE Smackdown! Live had 2,150,000 viewers.
It isn’t a surprise that Smackdown! Live had more viewers than both of those games, as the WWE is on the road to Wrestlemania.
However, it should be a cause of concern for the NBA that they got beaten in viewership by college basketball. Especially with the most highly touted player in the NCAA missing the game and Toronto becoming one of the best teams in the league, while Boston is one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
It will be pretty interesting to see what the next ratings for the Celtics will be when they are on national TV again with other highly ranked college basketball games on. It could be a phenomenon exclusive to Duke and Zion.
Or perhaps, the Raptors just aren’t as interesting as other elite teams.
