Networks have strong showing during a busy sports weekend

Fans who had been starving for live sporting events had their appetites somewhat sated last weekend.

Network executives knew the first weekend with multiple live events would draw good numbers but for the most part they exceeded expectations. The Bundesliga's return drew record numbers on Fox Sports 1, Saturday night's UFC card on ESPN was one of the top shows on cable television and Sunday's NASCAR race on Fox was the most-viewed non-Daytona race in three years.

“It was fun being able to watch everything and not knowing what was going to happen. The good thing is people can see a little bit of the pieces of the sports world being able to restart,” said NBC's Mike Tirico, who called Sunday's TaylorMade Driving Relief exhibition match.

ESPN dominated the weekend. According to Nielsen, the network won Sunday night's cable ratings with the final two episodes of “The Last Dance,” while Saturday's UFC Fight Night card was the third-most viewed program on cable, averaging 1.20 million. Saturday's card was the eighth-most viewed UFC telecast on an ESPN network since the network started airing bouts last January.

It was also the second-most viewed ESPN Fight Night. The record remains 1.5 million for the first card aired last February.

Bundesliga games on Fox Sports 1 posted their best numbers on the network since it began airing the German professional soccer league in 2015. The Bundesliga is the first of Europe's first-division soccer leagues to resume play.

Saturday's matches averaged 365,000 viewers while Sunday's games, which featured seven-time champion Bayern Munich, averaged 361,000.

Fox Sports Senior Vice President Michael Mulvihill said that is a 725% increase over the last Bundesliga match on FS1 prior to the shutdown.

Fox's strong weekend continued with the NASCAR race at Darlington, South Carolina, averaging 6.32 million. It was the most-watched race outside of the Daytona 500 since the March 2017 race in Atlanta.