Univision’s Major League Soccer coverage saw a steep drop in viewership last weekend when compared to the first two broadcasts of the 2018 season. Saturday afternoon’s match between New York City FC and Orlando City SC was watched by only 239,000 viewers, down from 456,000 and 429,000 for Univision’s previous two broadcasts.
English Soccer also experienced a large drop in viewership as Manchester United, Spurs and Chelsea all had their weekend matches played on FOX Sports’ networks where Manchester United and Chelsea’s FA Cup Quarter-Final matches each drew 170,000 viewers on FOX Sports 2.
Chivas de Guadalajara’s 3-0 home victory over Seattle Sounders on Wednesday, March 14 drew 745,000 viewers on Univision Deportes providing the network with its most-watched CONCACAF Champions League match since at least 2016. Overall, the CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final matches averaged 395,000 viewers on Univision Deportes.
Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV for March 14-18, 2018:
| Rank | Date | Competition | Teams | TV1 | TV2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3/17/18 | Liga MX | León / Lobos | Univision; 914000 | —; — | 914,000 |
| 2 | 3/17/18 | Liga MX | Chivas / Tigres | Univision; 866000 | —; — | 866,000 |
| 3 | 3/17/18 | Liga MX | Cruz Azul / Pumas | UniMás; 760000 | —; — | 760,000 |
| 4 | 3/14/18 | CONCACAF CL | Chivas / Seattle Sounders | —; — | UDN; 745000 | 745,000 |
| 5 | 3/17/18 | Liga MX | Club América / Toluca | —; — | UDN; 608000 | 608,000 |
| 6 | 3/16/18 | Liga MX | Tijuana / Morelia | —; — | UDN; 414000 | 414,000 |
| 7 | 3/14/18 | UEFA CL R16 | Barcelona / Chelsea | FS1; 394000 | —; — | 394,000 |
| 8 | 3/14/18 | CONCACAF CL | Tauro / América | —; — | UDN; 377000 | 377,000 |
| 9 | 3/17/18 | Premier League | Liverpool / Watford | NBCSN; 294000 | Unvso; 52000 | 346,000 |
| 10 | 3/16/18 | Liga MX | Puebla / Santos | —; — | UDN; 333000 | 333,000 |
| 11 | 3/18/18 | Liga MX | Veracruz / Atlas | —; — | UDN; 259000 | 259,000 |
| 12 | 3/17/18 | Premier League | Huddersfield / Crystal Palace | NBCSN; 256000 | —; — | 256,000 |
| 13 | 3/17/18 | MLS | New York City FC / Orlando City SC | Univision; 239000 | —; — | 239,000 |
| 14 | 3/17/18 | FA Cup | Man Utd / Brighton | FS2; 170000 | —; — | 170,000 |
| 15 | 3/17/18 | FA Cup | Swansea / Spurs | FS1; 166000 | —; — | 166,000 |
| 16 | 3/18/18 | Bundesliga | Leipzig / München | —; — | UDN; 158000 | 158,000 |
| 17 | 3/14/18 | SuperCopa Argentina | Boca Jrs / River Plate | —; — | FOXD; 149000 | 149,000 |
| 18 | 3/17/18 | Liga MX | Monterrey / Querétaro | —; — | Gala; 148000 | 148,000 |
| 19 | 3/18/18 | Bundesliga | Köln / Leverkusen | —; — | UDN; 39000 | 39,000 |
| 20 | 3/17/18 | Bundesliga | Frankfurt / Mainz | —; — | UDN; 34000 | 34,000 |
SEE MORE: Access our archives of US TV ratings for soccer.
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paul parker
March 26, 2018 at 2:54 pm
i’ve witnessed quality in europe shift away from italy in the 90’s to spain/england in the 00’s and now france/ger/spain/england. and one sees it most watching the internationals, england use to have to thump it to get it out of their half, now it is patient, quality passing. this is clearly attributable to the european opening of leagues to the best folks no matter what the country. this is why italy had the best leagues in the 90’s.
the US couldn’t even qualify in the bizarre CONCACAF region where 3 out of 6 make it. and please don’t reference the playoffs to get to this final 6. CONCACAF should be part of the South American group. It would then be similar to Europe and performance would improve. Mexico has become clearly stronger by participating in South American competitions.
If you want to watch MLS, great! And the diving in Europe does need to be addressed. It is despicable what pochettino teaches at tottingham, Portugal now has serious competition for the diving championship.
Alex Michalakos
March 26, 2018 at 1:08 pm
Before MLS, (and after NASL) my soccer-crazy friends and I watched every game available (Italian League, Spanish, International) but we still joked among ourselves about how boring soccer often was. When we played we mocked the quality and the antics, for example shooting 20 yards over the crossbar, faking injury, fouling and pretending you didn’t, and having little interest in scoring (Italian league), clobbering a player with no foul called, “route 1” soccer, and clumsy defending(English league) as well as the leisurely pace of other leagues. And this is not to mention the lack of drama associated with the system of two or there elite teams per league. But we still watched it all and couldn’t get enough.
It wasn’t about some abstract concept of “quality.” It was about everything: the passion, the possibilities, the (too-infrequent) drama and even the boring and mock-worthy aspects. And how we dreamed of our own league, with a full stadium and exciting atmosphere.
Now that MLS is here and thriving, I think MLS has improved on those negative features, even as they still pervade the other leagues.
But many people put down MLS in order to raise up other leagues. They only want to rate based on “quality” as if such a determination is possible or even necessary. And that leads to a competition which shouldn’t exist.
MLS FREAK
March 27, 2018 at 4:08 pm
Absolutely right bro, you’re always on here spreading the gospel of MLS and I love it. We need to get you a signed Grant Wahl poster as a token of appreciation. You are speaking absolute truth, those others leagues are garbage compared to MLS, the English leagues are scared of bringing a world class player like BWP back, they wouldn’t dare call him up to the English squad because he would win the Golden Boot at the world cup and that would lead towards an exodus of players coming to MLS,
paul parker
March 26, 2018 at 12:18 pm
only reason zlatan is in the US is he is washed up. why does the MLS waste its precious money on over-the-hill retired europeans instead of investing developing young players? these slow elders only flatter US youngsters into thinking their competitive, then when they come up against the real thing they’re too slow with insufficient technical skills (eg dempsey). MLS should acknowledge where they are, minor league feeders to european leagues. when there are a few dozen regulars playing in the top european leagues (not teams) then the US national and MLS will be competitive
top saturday game – city visiting everton
JP
March 24, 2018 at 11:30 am
3/31/18 is going to be LAFC/LAG on FOX Network 3pm. Most likely the first game for Zlatan. As an MLS, I am hopeful that will be a huge number for the league, relatively speaking….
Jonh
March 28, 2018 at 10:17 pm
Why would any one that likes this sport down vote this comment is beyond me.
Monte
March 23, 2018 at 7:33 pm
has beIN stopped announcing their numbers, have not seen La Liga’s number in a while…..
Christopher Harris
March 23, 2018 at 8:02 pm
beIN SPORTS provides us with numbers when there are impressive numbers to share.
Alex Michalakos
March 23, 2018 at 1:12 pm
So Huddersfield -Crystal Palace of the mighty, high-quality EPL draws 256,000, while NYCFC-Orlando of lowly MLS draws 239,000 on a non-English channel with no Mexican stars playing.
Last week Atlanta United / DC United (not a famous matchup) drew 576,000 beating out Man Utd / Liverpool and every other EPL or any match on English-language TV, including PSG / Real Madrid (301,000) and even Spurs / Juventus (on English and Spanish combined). And these
numbers aren’t including streaming.
Real Salt Lake / LAFC outdrew Chelsea / Crystal Palace (which was on 2 channels) on the same day, Sat March 10.
How is this possible? I’m not hearing the condescension about MLS and its TV ratings.
jorgedelarosa
March 23, 2018 at 2:05 pm
When the overall numbers are as low as what you’re describing, there’s nothing good for anyone. Try again when soccer of any type other than Liga MX can draw a million-plus viewers. There’s nothing in any of these numbers that would get any advertiser excited.
MLS FREAK
March 27, 2018 at 4:12 pm
We need to march together one day bro, which Ultra group are you in? DC United or NYCFC? I will come wherever you are one day and have an IPA with you.