Soccer is having a moment in the United States, and those good vibes are showing up in the TV ratings. The World Cup co-host’s knockout round match against Bosnia-Herzegovina was watched by an average of 24.4 million people with a peak of 31.9 million people in the second half. That makes it the highest rated English language broadcast of a soccer game in the history of the United States, and it no doubt has Fox executives dreaming about the possible numbers the next game could put up.
The United States Men’s National Team next plays Belgium in the round of 16, and there is real optimism the team could advance and head to the quarterfinals for only the third time ever and first since 2002. The group is a narrow betting favorite with the oddsmakers, due in part to the team’s home field advantage, and the chatter around the team is arguably the loudest it has ever been. Fans are really fired up, and it’s almost certainly going to translate to a huge number on Monday night between the Fox broadcast and streaming options.
Exactly how huge that number is remains to be seen. Prior to last Wednesday’s victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina, the highest rated English language soccer game was the United States Women’s National Team winning the Women’s World Cup Final over Japan in 2015. That broadcast did 22.3 million viewers and was helped by a tide of consecutive victories increasing the excitement. The men are currently building that same momentum, and given the last game peaked at more than 30 million, there is great hope the next game could average that number throughout the broadcast.
It helps that the buzz around the team and the World Cup in general have been overwhelmingly positive. Visitors from other countries have flooded social media with positive accounts of their time in the United States, and the goodwill on the ground has been electric. I was in Boston a few weeks ago for the Scotland game, and the entire city and the visiting fans were in a fantastic mood throughout. The US fans also seem to have fallen in love with the players, as videos of the team singing after games, hanging out on the bus and being in good spirits have gone viral.
As a soccer fan who has felt alone on an island watching World Cup qualifiers and Gold Cup matches for the last decade, the outpouring of excitement makes me so happy. It’s been a joy to see everyone supporting the Men’s National Team, and it’s been a joy to see people supporting the other games too. The group stage games collectively averaged more than 5 million viewers in the United States, and the Mexico and Ecuador game averaged 29 million viewers if you add together the English and Spanish language numbers. Just incredible stuff.
Based on nothing but positive energy and hope, I’m going to guess the English language broadcast of the US game averages 33 million viewers across its runtime on Monday. If the team is able to win and move on to the quarterfinals, we could be in for the biggest non-NFL playoff number of the year.
