The 2016 MLS Cup final on FOX Saturday produced the league’s largest English-language television audience since at least the 2001 final on ABC. Over 1.4 million people tuned in to FOX’s broadcast with an additional 601,000 watching in Spanish on UniMás and Univision Deportes. Across the United States and Canada, FOX, UniMás, TSN and RDS combined to produce the most viewed MLS Cup final in league history with over 3 million tuning in.
Also on Saturday, NBC featured its 11th Premier League match on the broadcast network as Leicester City defeated Manchester City in front of 975,000 American viewers. The match slots in as NBC’s second most-watched match of the Premier League season thus far, drawing just 16,000 more viewers than Chelsea-Spurs on November 26 and 185,000 short of August 27’s clash between Hull City and Manchester United.
The FIFA Club World Cup began on December 8 to little fanfare on US television as just 23,000 people watched Kashima Antlers of Japan defeat Auckland City of New Zealand in the First Round. The tides changed quickly, however, when Liga MX finalists Club América took the field on November 11 as their 2-1 defeat of South Korea’s Jeonbuk Motors drew 425,000 viewers at 2am on the east coast. The match registers as our 7th most watched of the week despite its early (or late) kickoff time, beating out all UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Bundesliga matches on FOX’s networks for the week as well as all but one of beIN SPORT’s offerings. We’ll have the viewing number for the Club America-Real Madrid semi-final that was played on Thursday in next week’s column.
Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV for December 6-12, 2016:
| Rank | Home | Away | Competition | Date | TV1 | TV2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto FC | Seattle Sounders | MLS Cup | 12/10/16 | FOX; 1411000 | UniMás; 601000 | 2,012,000 |
| 2 | Leicester City | Man City | Premier League | 12/10/16 | NBC; 975000 | Unvso; 95000 | 1,070,000 |
| 3 | Man Utd | Spurs | Premier League | 12/11/16 | NBCSN; 643000 | —; — | 643,000 |
| 4 | Liverpool | West Ham | Premier League | 12/11/16 | NBCSN; 587000 | —; — | 587,000 |
| 5 | Real Madrid | Deportivo | La Liga | 12/10/16 | beIN; 123000 | beIE; 407000 | 530,000 |
| 6 | Arsenal | Stoke | Premier League | 12/10/16 | NBCSN; 456000 | Unvso; 31000 | 487,000 |
| 7 | Jeonbuk Motors | América | Club World Cup | 12/11/16 | FS1; 61000 | FOXD; 364000 | 425,000 |
| 8 | Real Madrid | Dortmund | Champions League | 12/7/16 | FS1; 259000 | —; — | 259,000 |
| 9 | Watford | Everton | Premier League | 12/10/16 | NBCSN; 225000 | —; — | 225,000 |
| 10 | Barcelona | Mönchengladbach | Champions League | 12/6/16 | FS2; 22000 | FOXD; 186000 | 208,000 |
| 11 | Chelsea | West Brom | Premier League | 12/11/16 | NBCSN; 184000 | —; — | 184,000 |
| 12 | Schalke 04 | Leverkusen | Bundesliga | 12/11/16 | FS2; 15000 | FOXD; 153000 | 168,000 |
| 13 | Osasuna | Barcelona | La Liga | 12/10/16 | beIN; 39000 | beIE; 92000 | 131,000 |
| 14 | Man City | Celtic | Champions League | 12/6/16 | FS1; 126000 | —; — | 126,000 |
| 15 | Bayern | Atletico Madrid | Champions League | 12/6/16 | ESPN2; 123000 | —; — | 123,000 |
| 16 | Zorya | Man Utd | Europa League | 12/8/16 | FS1; 115000 | —; — | 115,000 |
| 17 | North Carolina | Stanford | NCAA Soccer | 12/9/16 | ESPNU; 107000 | —; — | 107,000 |
| 18 | Southampton | Hapoel | Europa League | 12/8/16 | FS1; 98000 | —; — | 98,000 |
| 19 | Leverkusen | Monaco | Champions League | 12/7/16 | —; — | FOXD; 82000 | 82,000 |
| 20 | Swansea | Sunderland | Premier League | 12/10/16 | CNBC; 73000 | —; — | 73,000 |
| 21 | Real Sociedad | Valencia | La Liga | 12/10/16 | —; — | beIE; 72000 | 72,000 |
| 22 | Denver | Wake Forest | NCAA Soccer | 12/9/16 | ESPNU; 71000 | —; — | 71,000 |
| 23 | Lyon | Sevilla | Champions League | 12/7/16 | ESPN2; 67000 | —; — | 67,000 |
| 24 | Real Betis | Athletic | La Liga | 12/11/16 | —; — | beIE; 64000 | 64,000 |
| 25 | Bayern | Wolfsburg | Bundesliga | 12/10/16 | FS1; 60000 | —; — | 60,000 |
| 26 | Espanyol | Sporting | La Liga | 12/11/16 | —; — | beIE; 58000 | 58,000 |
| 27 | Mamelodi Sundowns | Kashima Antlers | Club World Cup | 12/11/16 | FS1; 35000 | FOXD; 18000 | 53,000 |
| 28 | Villarreal | Atletico Madrid | La Liga | 12/12/16 | —; — | beIE; 51000 | 51,000 |
| 29 | Torino | Juventus | Serie A | 12/11/16 | beIN; 48000 | —; — | 48,000 |
| 30 | Las Palmas | Leganes | La Liga | 12/10/16 | —; — | beIE; 41000 | 41,000 |
| 31 | PSG | Nice | Ligue 1 | 12/11/16 | beIN; 36000 | —; — | 36,000 |
| 32 | Feirense | Porto | Primeira Liga | 12/11/16 | —; — | UDN; 32000 | 32,000 |
| 33 | Köln | Dortmund | Bundesliga | 12/10/16 | FS2; 12000 | FOXD; 19000 | 31,000 |
| 34 | Celta Vigo | Sevilla | La Liga | 12/11/16 | —; — | beIE; 30000 | 30,000 |
| 35 | Frankfurt | Hoffenheim | Bundesliga | 12/9/16 | FS2; 29000 | —; — | 29,000 |
| 36 | Malaga | Granada | La Liga | 12/9/16 | —; — | beIE; 29000 | 29,000 |
| 37 | Hertha | Bremen | Bundesliga | 12/10/16 | FS2; 17000 | FOXD; 9000 | 26,000 |
| 38 | Mönchengladbach | Mainz | Bundesliga | 12/11/16 | FS1; 24000 | ; — | 24,000 |
| 39 | Kashima Antlers | Auckland City | Club World Cup | 12/8/16 | FS1; 13000 | FOXD; 10000 | 23,000 |
| 40 | Spurs | CSKA Moscow | Champions League | 12/7/16 | FS2; 22000 | —; — | 22,000 |
| 41 | Preston | Blackburn | Championship | 12/10/16 | beIN; 20000 | ; — | 20,000 |
| 42 | Roma | AC Milan | Serie A | 12/12/16 | beIN; 16000 | —; — | 16,000 |
| 43 | Huddersfield | Bristol | Championship | 12/10/16 | beIN; 10000 | ; — | 10,000 |
| 44 | Salzburg | Schalke | Europa League | 12/8/16 | FS2; 9000 | —; — | 9,000 |
| 45 | Villarreal | Steaua Bucharest | Europa League | 12/8/16 | FS2; 8000 | —; — | 8,000 |
| 46 | Astra | Roma | Europa League | 12/8/16 | FS2; 6000 | —; — | 6,000 |
| 47 | Fiorentina | Sassuolo | Serie A | 12/12/16 | beIN; 6000 | —; — | 6,000 |
| 48 | Brighton | Leeds Utd | Championship | 12/9/16 | beIN; 5000 | —; — | 5,000 |
2016 MLS TV averages:
| League | Overall | ESPN | ESPN2 | ESPND | FOX | FS1 | FOXD | UniMás/UDN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLS | 276,689 | 290,179 | 201,500 | 46,000 | 658,000 | 154,346 | 34,677 | 218,038 |
| MLS Playoffs | 273,000 | 279,167 | 124,000 | 44,500 | 1,411,000 | 191,286 | 73,750 | 289,600 |
Most-watched leagues on US TV
| League | Average |
|---|---|
| Liga MX | 760,779 |
| Premier League | 449,306 |
| UEFA CL | 366,643 |
| MLS | 292,365 |
| Club World Cup | 167,000 |
| La Liga | 147,543 |
| NWSL | 88,500 |
| Bundesliga | 76,338 |
| Primeira Liga | 34,294 |
| Serie A | 26,684 |
| Championship | 16,864 |
| Ligue 1 | 14,000 |
| NASL | 7,500 |
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