News

Most-watched soccer games on US TV for September 19-24, 2017

Updated on
October 05, 2017

Similar to last season, the FOX over-the-air network aired an NFL/MLS doubleheader for the final MLS broadcast on FOX in 2017. Last weekend, FOX drew a combined average of 1.35 million viewers for the MLS broadcasts, up 4% from 1.298 million in 2016. MLS games on the FOX broadcast network overall, however, have experienced a 5% drop in viewership when compared to 2016.

Despite the success of FOX’s NFL/MLS doubleheader, fall ratings continue to struggle on all the league’s partner networks. New York City FC’s match against the Houston Dynamo Saturday drew only 134,000 viewers combined across UniMás and Univision Deportes. Then Sunday evening’s match between the Portland Timbers and Orlando City SC drew only 133,000 viewers on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes combined.

Meanwhile, the Premier League has also seen a recent dip in viewership, averaging 442,000 viewers on all networks since the start of September. This represents a 25% decrease in viewership from the 588,000 average viewers during the month of August.

In women’s soccer, Orlando Pride took on the Portland Thorns before a television audience of 82,000 viewers for Lifetime’s penultimate regular season broadcast. Lifetime will air its final broadcast of the 2017 NWSL regular season this Saturday, September 30 with the Portland Thorns hosting the Chicago Red Stars at 3:30 pm ET. The League semi-finals will begin October 7 on Lifetime.

Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV for September 19-24, 2017:

Rank	Date	Competition	Teams	TV1	TV2	Total
1	9/24/17	MLS	Kansas City/Atlanta / Los Angeles/Montreal	FOX; 1350000	—; —	1,350,000
2	9/23/17	Premier League	Leicester City / Liverpool	NBC; 750000	Unvso; 61000	811,000
3	9/24/17	Premier League	Brighton / Newcastle	NBCSN; 268000	Telemundo; 186000	454,000
4	9/23/17	Premier League	Man City / Crystal Palace	NBCSN; 326000	Unvso; 29000	355,000
5	9/23/17	La Liga	Girona / Barcelona	beIN; 78000	beIE; 277000	355,000
6	9/23/17	La Liga	Alavés / Real Madrid	beIN; 74000	beIE; 212000	286,000
7	9/20/17	La Liga	Real Madrid / Real Betis	beIN; 49000	beIE; 195000	244,000
8	9/23/17	Premier League	West Ham / Spurs	NBCSN; 223000	Unvso; 18000	241,000
9	9/19/17	La Liga	Barcelona / Eibar	beIN; 136000	beIE; 45000	181,000
10	9/23/17	MLS	New York City / Houston Dynamo	UniMás; 103000	UDN; 31000	134,000
11	9/24/17	MLS	Portland Timbers / Orlando City	FS1; 110000	FOXD; 23000	133,000
12	9/19/17	Bundesliga	Schalke / Bayern	FS1; 78000	FOXD; 29000	107,000
13	9/23/17	Premier League	Stoke City / Chelsea	CNBC; 103000	—; —	103,000
14	9/24/17	Bundesliga	Hannover / Köln	FS1; 76000	UDN; 16000	92,000
15	9/22/17	Bundesliga	Bayern / Wolfsburg	—; —	UniMás; 82000	82,000
16	9/23/17	NWSL	Pride / Thorns	Lifetime; 82000	—; —	82,000
17	9/20/17	Bundesliga	Hamburg / Dortmund	FS1; 64000	UDN; 13000	77,000
18	9/23/17	Ligue 1	Montpellier / PSG	beIN; 58000	—; —	58,000
19	9/21/17	CONCACAF League	Olimpia / Plaza Amador	—; —	UDN; 50000	50,000
20	9/21/17	CONCACAF League	Guápiles / Árabe Unido	—; —	UDN; 36000	36,000
21	9/20/17	Bundesliga	Hertha / Leverkusen	FS2; 28000	FOXD; 6000	34,000
22	9/19/17	Bundesliga	Mönchengladbach / Stuttgart	FS2; 26000	UDN; 6000	32,000
23	9/20/17	Bundesliga	Köln / Frankfurt	FS2; 16000	FOXD; 2000	18,000
24	9/23/17	Bundesliga	Leipzig / Frankfurt	—; —	UDN; 13000	13,000
25	9/24/17	Serie A	Fiorentina / Atalanta	beIN; 13000	—; —	13,000
26	9/19/17	Bundesliga	Augsburg / Leipzig	—; —	UDN; 4000	4,000

Average MLS viewing audiences on US TV:

League	Overall	ESPN	ESPN2	FOX	FS1
2017 MLS	263,465 (57)	287,381 (21)	220,000 (5)	622,600 (5)	181,200 (25)
2016 MLS	257,683 (63)	290,179 (28)	201,500 (4)	658,000 (5)	154,346 (26)
2017 NWSL	94,143 (21)