The United States’ 2-1 victory over Jamaica to claim the 2017 Gold Cup led in the ratings last week. FS1 delivered 1.772 million viewers for the match, up 117% from 818k for the 2015 final. The game also brought record streaming numbers as 71,742 unique viewers watched the match on FOX Sports GO, the largest audience ever on the platform for a soccer match. On the Spanish-language side, Univision saw a 58% drop in viewership from the 2015 edition, which featured Mexico in place of the United States.
El Clásico Miami stole most of the attention on a busy Soccer Saturday in the United States last weekend. Atlanta United and Orlando City kicked things off with the FOX network’s final MLS broadcast scheduled for the 2017 season, averaging 478k viewers. Then at 8pm on the east coast, ESPN delivered 1.7 million viewers as Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 3-2 in El Clásico Miami. It was the most-watched soccer telecast on ESPN’s networks since the 2016 UEFA Euro Final. Following the match, ESPN also earned its second largest viewership for an MLS match this season as 397k watched the Los Angeles Galaxy and Seattle Sounders play to a 0-0 draw.
Finally, viewership for week 2 of the Liga MX Apertura was down 28% from the opening weekend as Club América, the league’s most popular team, saw their match against Pachuca compete directly with El Clásico Miami. The match drew 913k viewers across Univision and Univision Deportes. At the same time, Monterrey and Veracruz played before an audience of 57k on Galavision, combining for a total audience of 970k viewers for the 8pm ET window on Univision’s networks, down 18% from week 1.
Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV for July 25-30, 2017:
Average viewing audiences for soccer leagues on US TV:
| Rank | Date | Competition | Teams | TV1 | TV2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7/26/17 | Gold Cup | USMNT / Jamaica | FS1; 1772000 | Univision; 2288000 | 4,060,000 |
| 2 | 7/29/17 | Int’l Champions Cup | Real Madrid / Barcelona | ESPN; 836000 | ESPN2/D; 692000 | 1,528,000 |
| 3 | 7/29/17 | Liga MX | Pachuca / América | Univision; 498000 | UDN; 415000 | 913,000 |
| 4 | 7/30/17 | Tournament of Nations | USWNT / Brazil | ESPN2; 643000 | —; — | 643,000 |
| 5 | 7/29/17 | Liga MX | Necaxa / Tijuana | Univision; 387000 | UDN; 197000 | 584,000 |
| 6 | 7/30/17 | Liga MX | Toluca / León | Univision; 542000 | UDN; — | 542,000 |
| 7 | 7/27/17 | Tournament of Nations | USWNT / Australia | ESPN; 474000 | UDN; 60000 | 534,000 |
| 8 | 7/29/17 | MLS | Atlanta United / Orlando City | FOX; 478000 | FOXD; — | 478,000 |
| 9 | 7/29/17 | Liga MX | Cruz Azul / Chivas | —; — | UDN; 423000 | 423,000 |
| 10 | 7/26/17 | Int’l Champions Cup | Man Utd / Barcelona | ESPN2; 409000 | ESPND; — | 409,000 |
| 11 | 7/29/17 | MLS | Los Angeles Galaxy / Seattle Sounders | ESPN; 397000 | ESPND; — | 397,000 |
| 12 | 7/30/17 | Int’l Champions Cup | Juventus / Roma | ESPN; 326000 | ESPND; — | 326,000 |
| 13 | 7/30/17 | Liga MX | Santos / Tigres | —; — | UDN; 314000 | 314,000 |
| 14 | 7/25/17 | Int’l Champions Cup | Roma / Spurs | ESPN; 298000 | ESPND; — | 298,000 |
| 15 | 7/29/17 | Int’l Champions Cup | Man City / Spurs | ESPN2; 296000 | ESPND; — | 296,000 |
| 16 | 7/30/17 | MLS | Toronto FC / New York City | ESPN; 280000 | ESPND; — | 280,000 |
| 17 | 7/28/17 | Liga MX | Atlas / Pumas | —; — | UDN; 279000 | 279,000 |
| 18 | 7/26/17 | Int’l Champions Cup | Real Madrid / Man City | ESPN; 278000 | ESPND; — | 278,000 |
| 19 | 7/26/17 | Copa MX | Santos / Chivas | —; — | UDN; 180000 | 180,000 |
| 20 | 7/28/17 | Liga MX | Puebla / Morelia | —; — | UDN; 148000 | 148,000 |
| 21 | 7/26/17 | Int’l Champions Cup | PSG / Juventus | ESPN2; 141000 | ESPND; — | 141,000 |
| 22 | 7/29/17 | Int’l Champions Cup | Chelsea / Inter | ESPN2; 112000 | ESPND; — | 112,000 |
| 23 | 7/25/17 | Copa MX | Atlas / Potros | —; — | UDN; 91000 | 91,000 |
| 24 | 7/29/17 | Liga MX | Monterrey / Veracruz | —; — | Gala; 57000 | 57,000 |
| 25 | 7/29/17 | UEFA Euro (W) | Germany / Denmark | —; — | UDN; 25000 | 25,000 |
| 26 | 7/27/17 | UEFA Euro (W) | Portugal / England | —; — | UDN; 21000 | 21,000 |
| 27 | 7/29/17 | UEFA Euro (W) | Netherlands / Sweden | —; — | UDN; 19000 | 19,000 |
Average MLS viewing audiences on US TV:
| League | Overall* | ESPN | ESPN2 | FOX | FS1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 MLS | 260,183 (41) | 301,063 (17) | 256,750 (4) | 440,750 (4) | 190,647** (17) |
| 2016 MLS | 257,683 (63) | 290,179 (28) | 201,500 (4) | 658,000 (5) | 154,346 (26) |
| 2017 NWSL | 95,786 (14) | ||||
| 2017 USL | 19,000 (2) | *English-Only | |||
| **One game missing |
SEE MORE: Access our archives of US TV ratings for soccer.
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Oliver Tse
August 4, 2017 at 6:45 pm
Many English-speaking viewers in the U.S. have already made up their minds and are tuning out FOX.
For the recent USA-Jamaica Gold Cup Final, involving 2 predominately English-speaking teams:
Univision and Univision Deportes Network combined got 2.288 million viewers even though both networks 1) did not have a pre-match show because the Santos Laguna-Chivas Copa MX match went long and 2) edited out the first 4 minutes of the Gold Cup Final because both networks ran extra commercials before matches instead of going straight to kickoff.
Univision went as far as trying to cover up what it was doing by 1) showing the kickoff on 3-minute delay, 2) did a quick cut to a shot of Bruce Arena on the bench, and 3) not showing the clock on the upper left hand corner score graphic until 4 minutes into the match.
FS1 had a full 45-minute pre-match show to build up to the match and still only got 1.772 million viewers.
If FOX and/or ESPN had done what Univision did for the 2017 Gold Cup Final, FOX and/or ESPN would have been skewered in the media.
Univision got a pass from the sports media for its greed and its complete disrespect for the Gold Cup Final because Univision did what it did for the final of a tournament that was not taken very seriously by the sports media in either language once Mexico was eliminated.