{"id":859751,"date":"2026-08-18T15:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T15:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/859751\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T15:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T15:22:13","slug":"field-of-dreams-game-on-netflix-sees-steep-decline-in-audience-viewership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/859751\/","title":{"rendered":"Field of Dreams game on Netflix sees steep decline in audience viewership"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

The game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins was the first at the “Field of Dreams” movie site in Dyersville, Iowa, in four years. Reese Strickland \/ Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Aug. 18, 2026 10:48 am EDT Updated <\/p>\n

In its first year broadcasting an MLB special-event game, Netflix drew an average of 1.66 million viewers for the league\u2019s return to the Field of Dreams, according to Nielsen.<\/p>\n

The game Thursday night between the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins was the first at the \u201cField of Dreams\u201d movie site in Dyersville, Iowa, in four years. The Phillies would go on to beat the Twins 7-1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Overall, the 1.66 million viewers represent a steep decline from the first two Field of Dreams games. In 2022, a Chicago Cubs-Cincinnati Reds matchup on Fox averaged 3.10 million viewers. In 2021, the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox game averaged 5.9 million viewers.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s Speedway Classic, another special event game, averaged 1.6 million viewers on Fox. The 2024 game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, averaged 2.5 million viewers.<\/p>\n

Viewership for this year\u2019s Field of Dreams game featured a median age of 46, the youngest for an MLB special-event game. That is in line with other events broadcast via the streaming service.<\/p>\n

This is Netflix\u2019s first season partaking in MLB broadcasts. An Opening Night game between the Yankees and San Francisco Giants averaged 2.97 million viewers on the streaming platform. The Home Run Derby on Netflix had an average viewership of 5.3 million, which was the event\u2019s lowest since 2003, according to Sports Business Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MLB at Field of Dreams is scheduled to return next year, featuring the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals. It will be broadcast via NBC and Peacock. Netflix will still broadcast multiple MLB events next season as part of a three-year media rights deal.<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Aug 18, 2026<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins was the first at the “Field of Dreams” movie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,2364,591,2365,85,3276],"class_list":["post-859751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}