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July 17, 2025

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Not even a home-run swing-off could lift MLB’s All-Star Game ratings. While Tuesday night delivered a dramatic finish and praise from players and fans alike, overall viewership dipped about 3% from last year’s broadcast.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]], and David Rumsey [[link removed]]

MLB All-Star Game Viewership Dips Despite Historic Swing-Off [[link removed]]

Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

Unprecedented drama in the MLB All-Star Game was not enough to produce a bump in event viewership.

Fox Sports said late Wednesday that the event from Truist Park drew an average of 7.2 million viewers. The figure is down 3% from last year’s 7.4 million, and nears the game’s record-low of just over 7 million two years ago.

Despite the drop, though, the figure reaffirmed the MLB All-Star Game as the most-watched event of this type in North American pro sports, and represented the network’s most-watched telecast of any type since the historic total in February for Super Bowl LIX [[link removed]].

This year’s event featured the first home-run swing-off tiebreaker [[link removed]] to determine the winner after the American and National Leagues were tied at six runs each after nine innings. The unique format, created by MLB and the MLB Players Association in early 2022 but not needed until this year, was designed to avoid player injury and overuse during what remains an exhibition game.

Instead of widely rebuked situations like the 2002 All-Star Game in Milwaukee that ended in a tie or the one six years later at the former Yankee Stadium that painfully stretched for 15 innings, viewers were instead treated to a large dose of finality and spectacle. Thanks in large part to the heroics of the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber, who hit three homers in the swing-off to win the game’s Most Valuable Player honors, the National League prevailed.

More importantly, though, fans, players, and coaches alike raved about the swing-off format after its debut.

“That was like the baseball version of a shootout or extra time,” Schwarber said. “It was really fun. I credit the guys, too, who were really into it. They were cheering along. The fans were into it. … I think it’s a good idea.”

Viewership of the game, however, peaked between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m. ET, more than two hours before the swing-off happened.

Swings of the Future

While other elements used during the game, such as the automated ball-strike system, will make their way to MLB games that count, the swing-off almost certainly won’t, at least in the near term. More chatter about the swing-off, however, is all but certain.

“It will be interesting to see where that goes,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who led the AL squad this year. “There’s probably a world where you could see that in the future, where maybe it’s in some regular-season mix. I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if people start talking about it like that. Obviously, I don’t think that should happen, necessarily, or would at any time in the near future. But I’ve got to say, it was pretty exciting.”

In the case of Tuesday night, though, both Boone and NL counterpart Dave Roberts veered their choices for swing-off participants for All-Star Game reserves who were still warm—as opposed to starters either long out of the game, those who had left the ballpark entirely, or both.

The viewership dip for Tuesday’s All-Star Game follows a 5% lift ESPN saw for the MLB Home Run Derby [[link removed]] held on the previous night.

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WNBA Attendance at Record Pace Entering All-Star Weekend [[link removed]]

Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

The WNBA appears to be carrying its momentum from a record-breaking 2024 season [[link removed]] into 2025.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the league is averaging 11,085 fans through 140 games [[link removed]], according to Across the Timeline. That would be the highest mark in league history if the season ended today. The previous high was in 1998, the league’s second season, which averaged 10,869 fans in just 150 total games. (There will be 286 total games this year.)

This year’s mark is also up 13% from the 9,807 average fans last year.

The Golden State Valkyries, the expansion franchise that debuted this year, are the biggest driver of the league’s attendance success. The team has sold out all 11 of its home games so far this year—the only team to sell out all of its home games this year.

The New York Liberty is another reason for the bump. In previous years, the team would close off sections of the arena during WNBA games, lowering the total capacity from more than 17,000 to around 12,000. The team would open up the arena fully during big games, including its championship run last year.

This year, the Liberty have averaged nearly 16,000 fans per game, and their lowest attendance for any home game was 14,774.

Without the Valkyries and Liberty, the league would be averaging 9,977 fans per game, which would still be up from last year, but only about 1.7%. The mark would be behind the 1998 and 1999 seasons for the highest average.

The Indiana Fever are down about 1.3% this year in terms of home attendance, but Caitlin Clark remains the league’s biggest draw. Six teams moved games against the Indiana Fever to new arenas before the start of the season.

Not all of those games ultimately featured Clark, as she has missed 10 this season due to injury. But despite Clark’s absence, both the Chicago Sky and Dallas Wings still sold out their games that were moved to the United Center and American Airlines Center [[link removed]].

Several WNBA teams still play in arenas with a capacity below 10,000—or less than the average of the entire league this season. That includes the Wings, Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, and Connecticut Sun.

Trump Talks Continue, but Turnberry’s Open Return Is Uncertain [[link removed]]

Stuart Franklin/R&A

It appears unlikely that U.S. President Donald Trump’s prized golf course in Scotland will host an Open Championship while he’s still in office—but hope does remain for a future edition.

The Trump Turnberry golf club has not hosted an Open since 2009, five years before the Trump Organization purchased it in 2014 for $60 million. Ahead of this week’s Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club, R&A CEO Mark Darbon gave an update on discussions about returning to the venue [[link removed]].

“We’ve been extremely clear on our position in respect of Turnberry,” Darbon said Wednesday. “We love the golf course, but we’ve got some big logistical challenges there. You see the scale of their setup here, and we’ve got some work to do on the road, rail, and accommodation infrastructure around Turnberry. We’ve explicitly not taken it out of our pool of venues, but we’d need to address those logistical challenges should we return.”

The R&A (formally known as the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews), which organizes The Open, has already picked hosts for 2026 (Royal Birkdale) and 2027 (St Andrews), meaning 2028 is the only year Turnberry could host while Trump is in office. Darbon said they will announce a host for 2028 within the next year.

Talks With Trump Continue

Darbon said he met with Eric Trump, as well as other executives from the Trump Organization and Turnberry, a couple of months ago. “We had a really good discussion,” he said. “I think they understand clearly where we’re coming from. We talked through some of the challenges that we have, so we’ve got a good dialogue with them.”

Meanwhile, Darbon said he is not feeling pressure from the U.K. government, after reports [[link removed]] that Trump asked U.K. government officials about whether Turnberry will be able to host another major championship, and those officials in turn inquired with The R&A about that potential.

“We’ve spoken to them specifically about Turnberry, and I think they’ve made it clear that the decision around where we take our championship rests with us,” Darbon said of the government.

Trump is scheduled to head to the U.K. in September to visit King Charles III.

Not the Only Course Waiting

Turnberry is not the only course out of the 10 currently on the Open rotation with an uncertain future. Muirfield, the Scottish links that have hosted 16 Opens, last welcomed the tournament in 2013, and don’t have another one on the books, either.

“We love the golf course at Muirfield,” Darbon said. “We’re in a discussion with the venue right now. There’s some things that we need to evolve at Muirfield, the practice ground in particular is a challenge for us with a modern Open, and there’s some work we need to do with the venue to facilitate some of the infrastructure that we require, some cabling to enable the scale of the production that we have these days. But it’s a good dialogue, and we’d love to be back there in the future.”

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Conversation Starters Edwin Díaz challenged an umpire’s call during the All-Star Game with the help of MLB’s new automated ball-strike (ABS) system. Take a look [[link removed]]. The Braves honored Henry “Hank” Aaron and his 715 home runs during the All-Star Game, which was played on July 15 (7/15). Check it out [[link removed]]. At SEC media days, Texas defensive back Michael Taaffe wore a tie with the initials of the campers and counselors who were lost in the deadly floods at Camp Mystic. Take a look [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks Bradley Beal Agrees to Suns Buyout, Will Join Clippers [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]Beal is the latest star player to leave Phoenix behind Kevin Durant. President Trump Is Actively Working on an NIL-Related Executive Order [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]It’s unclear what the executive order would include. Tennis Hall of Fame Rejects Bill Ackman’s $10M Gift [[link removed]]by Ava Hult [[link removed]]The Hall of Fame said it wants to avoid “any perception of impropriety.” Question of the Day

To break a tie in the MLB All-Star Game, would you prefer a swing-off or extra innings?

SWING-OFF [[link removed]] EXTRA INNINGS [[link removed]]

Wednesday’s result: 46% of respondents think Texas will win the SEC in football this season.

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