MLS and FOX Sports experienced another poor weekend with Sunday evening’s matchup between the Seattle Sounders and Real Salt Lake attracting only 50,000 viewers on FOX Sports 1 and an additional 6,000 on FOX Deportes. Not only are those the worst numbers for any game this season, they are also record lows for both networks. And the poor numbers aren’t only recent or because of the Rio Olympics. Since May 15, no MLS match on FOX Sports 1 has surpassed 200,000 viewers.
Friday night’s MLS game on Univision Deportes Network was watched by 53,000 viewers.
Still, for the season to date, FOX Sports is up 35%, ESPN is up 42% while Univision is up 23% compared to last year’s numbers for each respective network. But the downturn in the recent numbers, particularly FOX Sports, will be of concern especially during August which is traditionally a big month for Major League Soccer TV ratings.
FOX Sports saw two more curtain raisers this week as Real Madrid defeated Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup last Tuesday while Bayern Munich bested Borussia Dortmund in the DFL-SuperCup Sunday afternoon. Neither managed to beat the 292,000 viewers from the previous week’s FA Community Shield match (Leicester-Man United) with 272,000 viewers tuning in for the UEFA Super Cup and only 182,000 for the DFL-SuperCup. Also on Sunday, 262,000 people watched the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup on ESPN. Numbers for yesterday’s second leg are not available as of press time.
On a positive note, the Premier League kicked off this weekend on the networks of NBC with Sunday’s matchup between Arsenal and Liverpool on NBCSN attracting 745,000 viewers, a record for a Premier league opening weekend match on American cable television.
Liga MX once again remained strong against Olympic competition once again averaging more than 500,000 viewers per match window. Thus far Liga MX and the Premier League appear to be the only soccer leagues to be mostly unaffected by the ongoing Olympic games in Rio.
Here’s the TV ratings data for last week (all times Eastern US):
Domestic Numbers for the Week
| Date | Competition | Start Time | Home | Away | Network 1 | Network 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8/9/16 | Olympics (W) | 6:00 PM | Colombia | United States | NBCSN; 3,600,000 | NBC Universo; Not available | 3,600,000 |
| 8/9/16 | US Open Cup | 8:00 PM | New England Revolution | Chicago Fire | ESPN2; 80,000 | ESPN Deportes; Not available | 80,000 |
| 8/10/16 | US Open Cup | 10:00 PM | Los Angeles Galaxy | FC Dallas | ESPN2; 88,000 | ESPN Deportes; Not available | 88,000 |
| 8/12/16 | Olympics (W) | 12:00 PM | United States | Sweden | NBCSN; 1,850,000 | NBC Universo; Not available | 1,850,000 |
| 8/12/16 | MLS | 11:00 PM | Vancouver Whitecaps | San Jose Earthquakes | UniMás; Not available | Univision Deportes; 53,000 | ? |
| 8/13/16 | NASL | 7:30 PM | Carolina Railhawks | Puerto Rico FC | beIN Sports; 3,000 | — | 3,000 |
| 8/14/16 | MLS | 4:00 PM | Chicago Fire | Orlando City SC | UniMás; Not available | Univision Deportes; 41,000 | ? |
| 8/14/16 | MLS | 7:00 PM | Seattle Sounders | Real Salt Lake | Fox Sports 1; 50,000 | Fox Deportes; 6,000 | 56,000 |
Foreign Matches on American Television
| Date | Competition | Start Time | Team 1 | Team 2 | Network 1 | Network 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8/9/16 | UEFA Super Cup | 2:45 PM | Real Madrid | Sevilla | Fox Sports 1; 109,000 | Fox Deportes; 163,000 | 272,000 |
| 8/9/16 | Copa MX | 8:00 PM | Lobos BUAP | Toluca | — | Univision Deportes; 59,000 | 59,000 |
| 8/9/16 | Copa MX | 10:00 PM | Mineros Zacatecas | Venados FC | — | Univision Deportes; 56,000 | 56,000 |
| 8/10/16 | EFL Cup | 2:45 PM | Fleetwood Town | Leeds United | — | beIN Español; 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 8/10/16 | EFL Cup | 2:45 PM | Luton Town | Aston Villa | beIN Sports; 2,000 | — | 2,000 |
| 8/10/16 | Copa MX | 9:30 PM | Tapachula | Chivas | — | Univision Deportes; 160,000 | 160,000 |
| 8/11/16 | EFL Cup | 2:45 PM | Bristol Rovers | Cardiff City | beIN Sports; 2,000 | beIN Español; 2,000 | 4,000 |
| 8/12/16 | Ligue 1 | 2:00 PM | Bastia | Paris Saint Germain | beIN Sports; 11,000 | beIN Español; 5,000 | 16,000 |
| 8/12/16 | Primeira Liga | 3:30 PM | Rio Ave | FC Porto | — | Univision Deportes; 24,000 | 24,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Premier League | 7:30 AM | Hull City | Leicester City | CNBC; 208,000 | NBC Universo; 26,000 | 234,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Championship | 10:00 AM | Wigan | Blackburn | beIN Sports; 4,000 | beIN Español; 11,000 | 15,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Premier League | 10:00 AM | Everton | Spurs | CNBC; 376,000 | — | 376,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Championship | 12:30 PM | Norwich City | Sheffield Wednesday | beIN Sports; 4,000 | beIN Español; 9,000 | 13,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Premier League | 12:30 PM | Manchester City | Sunderland | CNBC; 350,000 | — | 350,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Eredivisie | 1:30 PM | Ajax | Roda JC | — | Univision Deportes; 22,000 | 22,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Int’l Champions Cup | 2:00 PM | Celtic | Inter Milan | ESPN2; 44,000 | ESPN Deportes; Not available | 44,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Ligue 1 | 2:00 PM | Dijon | Nantes | beIN Sports; 2,000 | beIN Español; 8,000 | 10,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Liga MX | 6:00 PM | Querétaro | Cruz Azul | — | Univision Deportes; 262,000 | 262,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Liga MX | 8:00 PM | Monterrey | Necaxa | Univision; 452,000 | Univision Deportes; 243,000 | 695,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Liga MX | 8:06 PM | Pachuca | Pumas | — | NBC Universo; 75,000 | 75,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Liga MX | 10:00 PM | Club América | Monarcas Morelia | Univision; 543,000 | Univision Deportes; 349,000 | 892,000 |
| 8/13/16 | Olympics (M) | 9:00 PM | Brazil | Colombia | NBCSN; 967,000 | NBC Universo; Not available | 967,000 |
| 8/14/16 | Premier League | 8:30 AM | AFC Bournemouth | Manchester United | NBCSN; 489,000 | NBC Universo; 76,000 | 565,000 |
| 8/14/16 | Ligue 1 | 9:00 AM | Nancy | Lyon | beIN Sports; 3,000 | beIN Español; 3,000 | 6,000 |
| 8/14/16 | Eredivisie | 10:30 AM | PSV Eindhoven | AZ Alkmaar | — | Univision Deportes; 39,000 | 39,000 |
| 8/14/16 | Ligue 1 | 11:00 AM | Nice | Stade Rennains | beIN Sports; 2,000 | — | 2,000 |
| 8/14/16 | Premier League | 11:00 AM | Arsenal | Liverpool | NBCSN; 745,000 | — | 745,000 |
| 8/14/16 | Liga MX | 1:00 PM | Toluca | Tigres | Univision; Not available | Univision Deportes; 158,000 | 158,000 |
| 8/14/16 | DFL-SuperCup | 2:30 PM | Bayern Munich | Borussia Dortmund | Fox Sports 1; 102,000 | Fox Deportes; 80,000 | 182,000 |
| 8/14/16 | Ligue 1 | 2:45 PM | Marseille | Toulouse | beIN Sports; 13,000 | beIN Español; 9,000 | 22,000 |
| 8/14/16 | Spanish Supercopa | 3:45 PM | Sevilla | Barcelona | ESPN; 262,000 | ESPN Deportes; Not available | 262,000 |
| 8/14/16 | Liga MX | 7:00 PM | Santos Laguna | Chivas | — | Univision Deportes; 447,000 | 447,000 |
| 8/15/16 | Premier League | 3:00 PM | Chelsea | West Ham United | USA; 314,000 | — | 314,000 |
Year-to-Date Averages
| League | Overall | ESPN | FOX | Univision | beIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLS | 299,366 | 354,319 | 264,217 | 277,111 | — |
| NASL | 6,524 | — | — | — | 6,524 |
| MLS (2015) | — | 249,000 | 197,000 | 224,000 | — |
Foreign (2016/17) Year-to-Date Averages
| League | Average |
|---|---|
| Liga MX | 637,280 |
| Premier League | 430,667 |
| Championship | 18,167 |
| Bundesliga | 0 |
| La Liga | 0 |
| Serie A | 0 |
| Ligue 1 | 11,200 |
| Eredivisie | 27,000 |
SEE MORE: Read more articles and research about soccer TV ratings in the USA
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