Most-watched soccer games on US TV for August 1-6, 2017

the MLS All Star game set a record for viewership as a total of 1.9 million viewers watched the match on FS1 and Univision Network. This edition featured the MLS All Stars taking on Spanish side Real Madrid. Total viewership for the game was up 118% from 873,000 in the 2016 edition which featured Arsenal.

For the English-language audience, however, the viewing number declined for the fourth year in a row. The viewing number also saw a decline of 18% compared to last year’s MLS All-Star Game (513,000 viewers on ESPN for MLS All-Stars against Arsenal).

Last week featured the official kickoff to both the English and German soccer seasons as Dortmund and Bayern faced off in the DFL-Supercup while Arsenal took on Chelsea for the FA Community Shield.

Both matches were broadcast on FOX’s networks with the DFL-Supercup drawing 426,000 viewers on the FOX over-the-air network, up from 102,000 viewers for the same fixture last season on FS1. The Community Shield also saw an increase in viewership, although smaller, as 324,000 tuned in to witness Arsenal win the match for the third time in four years. Last season’s edition saw only 292,000 viewers as Manchester United defeated Leicester City.

The National Women’s Soccer League returned to cable this week after a brief break in the final week of July. Kickoff for the featured match between the Portland Thorns and Houston Dash was moved up two hours due to extreme heat. However the broadcast still scored 88,000 viewers, up 7,000 from Lifetime’s previous broadcast on July 22.

Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV for August 1-6, 2017:

Average viewing audiences for soccer leagues on US TV:

Rank	Date	Competition	Teams	TV1	TV2	Total
1	8/2/17	MLS All Star Game	MLS / Real Madrid	FS1; 420000	Univision; 1484000	1,904,000
2	8/5/17	Liga MX	América / Pumas	Univision; 992000	—; —	992,000
3	8/5/17	Liga MX	León / Cruz Azul	Univision; 731000	—; —	731,000
4	8/3/17	Tournament of Nations	USWNT / Japan	ESPN2; 538000	UDN; 143000	681,000
5	8/6/17	Liga MX	Toluca / Atlas	Univision; 630000	—; —	630,000
6	8/5/17	DFL-Supercup	Dortmund / Bayern	FOX; 426000	FOXD; 87000	513,000
7	8/6/17	MLS	Sporting Kansas City / Atlanta United	FS1; 323000	FOXD; 25000	348,000
8	8/5/17	Int’l Friendly	Spurs / Juventus	ESPN; 347000	—; —	347,000
9	8/6/17	FA Community Shield	Arsenal / Chelsea	FS1; 324000	—; —	324,000
10	8/5/17	Liga MX	Chivas / Necaxa	—; —	UDN; 319000	319,000
11	8/4/17	Liga MX	Tijuana / Monterrey	—; —	UDN; 276000	276,000
12	8/6/17	MLS	New York City / New York Red Bulls	FS1; 240000	FOXD; 33000	273,000
13	8/6/17	MLS	Portland Timbers / Los Angeles Galaxy	ESPN; 265000	—; —	265,000
14	8/2/17	Copa MX	América / Atlas	—; —	Gala; 238000	238,000
15	8/6/17	Liga MX	Veracruz / Puebla	—; —	UDN; 190000	190,000
16	8/6/17	UEFA Euro (W)	Netherlands / Denmark	ESPN2; 156000	—; —	156,000
17	8/4/17	Liga MX	Morelia / Santos	—; —	UDN; 155000	155,000
18	8/1/17	Copa MX	Tijuana / Puebla	—; —	UDN; 119000	119,000
19	8/1/17	MLS Homegrown Game	MLS / Chivas U20	—; —	UDN; 88000	88,000
20	8/5/17	NWSL	Thorns / Dash	Lifetime; 88000	—; —	88,000
21	8/3/17	CONCACAF League	Olimpia / Alajuelense	—; —	UDN; 74000	74,000
22	8/2/17	Audi Cup	Atlético Madrid / Liverpool	—; —	UDN; 34000	34,000
23	8/1/17	Audi Cup	Bayern / Liverpool	—; —	UDN; 28000	28,000
24	8/3/17	UEFA Euro (W)	Denmark / Austria	—; —	UDN; 23000	23,000
25	8/3/17	UEFA Euro (W)	Netherlands / England	—; —	UDN; 22000	22,000
26	8/2/17	Audi Cup	Napoli / Bayern	—; —	UDN; 20000	20,000
27	8/1/17	Audi Cup	Atlético Madrid / Napoli	—; —	UDN; 13000	13,000

Average MLS viewing audiences on US TV:

League	Overall*	ESPN	ESPN2	FOX	FS1
2017 MLS	261,261 (44)	298,941 (17)	256,750 (4)	440,750 (4)	188,000** (18)
2016 MLS	257,683 (63)	290,179 (28)	201,500 (4)	658,000 (5)	154,346 (26)
2017 NWSL	95,267 (15)
2017 USL	19,000 (2)				*English-Only
					**One game missing