<p>England’s Premier League has leapfrogged Mexico’s Liga MX as the most popular soccer league in the United States, per a recent <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tv/premier-league-is-now-the-most-watched-soccer-league-in-usa-20231228-WST-478701.html">report</a>. As a result, the ranking of the most popular soccer leagues in the United States has dramatically changed.</p>



<p>The best way to measure the popularity of any given sports league is to base it on the number of people watching the games. Therefore, we’ve accumulated the TV and streaming viewership as reported by Nielsen as well as numbers shared by broadcasters and streaming services to find the winners. After all, Americans can watch thousands of soccer games each season, so the competition is quite fierce.</p>



<h2>Most popular soccer leagues in the United States based on viewership</h2>



<p>Based on the data calculated from Nielsen and shared by broadcasters, here are the top eight most-watched soccer leagues in the United States. These rankings are based on overall soccer viewership during the 2023 calendar year:</p>



<ol><li>Premier League</li><li>Liga MX</li><li>Major League Soccer</li><li>LaLiga</li><li>NWSL</li><li>Bundesliga</li><li>Serie A</li><li>Ligue 1</li></ol>



<h2>Gauging the popular soccer leagues in the United States</h2>



<p>The Premier League has only recently usurped the top spot from Liga MX. The Premier League’s recent success in TV viewership has cracked over two million viewers for many regular season games among the league’s traditional ‘big-six’ clubs. In fact, 2023 has been a record year for Premier League viewership in the United States. The <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tv/top-5-most-watched-premier-league-games-in-us-history-20231228-WST-480101.html">top five most-watched Premier League games</a> in US television history all occurred during 2023.</p>



<p>Previously, for decades, Mexico dominated the United States soccer viewership due to the number of Mexican-American fans in the US as well as the ease of accessibility of games across Univision. There are still millions of supporters for clubs such as Club América, Chivas, Cruz Azul, Pumas, and Monterrey. </p>



<p>But 2023 saw a seismic drop in viewership of Liga MX games. For instance, viewership of Liga MX’s 2023 Apertura decreased by 12% compared to 2022. </p>



<p>Still, there’s no doubt that the popularity of both Liga MX and the Premier League in the United States is due to many of their games being available on free over-the-air television. For example, the Premier League’s total viewership for 9 days over the Christmas period was higher than all of MLS’s TV broadcasts in the entirety of 2023. Being on network and cable television still matters when it comes to viewership.</p>



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<h2>Popularity and streaming</h2>



<p>After the Premier League and Liga MX, there’s no doubt that Major League Soccer is a distant third in the most popular soccer leagues. Lionel Messi’s arrival ballooned the league’s streaming service (MLS Season Pass) to <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tv/mls-season-pass-nearing-1-million-subscribers-per-report-20230724-WST-444953.html">over one million subscribers</a>, which is an impressive statistic on its own. Streaming numbers for individual MLS games have not been made available by the league or Apple.</p>



<p>However, Nielsen has reported that 1.75 million viewers tuned in on Univision to watch Messi’s debut game for Inter Miami. Plus, 815,000 watched the MLS Cup final on FOX. While streaming numbers are unavailable, the TV viewership for the 2023 final was down 58% compared to 2022.</p>



<p>In fourth place among the most popular soccer leagues is LaLiga. The Spanish top-flight league benefits from several games per week being televised across ESPN Deportes, which is consistently generating roughly 150,000 viewers per match. That consistency in addition to all of the games streamed on ESPN+, as well as superclubs Barcelona and Real Madrid, puts LaLiga ahead of NWSL.</p>



<h2>The growth of NWSL</h2>



<p>While last year’s el Clásico in LaLiga pulled 538,000 viewers on ESPN Deportes (not including ESPN+), the NWSL has experienced growth, and it is making a conscious effort to expand with new teams lining up in the San Francisco Bay area, Boston, and Utah. The <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSportsGang/status/1724474306040627660" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">last two NWSL</a> finals <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tv/nwsl-championship-draws-800k-viewers-on-cbs-20231114-WST-469992.html#comments-469992-containter">pulled over 800,000 viewers</a>. The final appearances of Ali Krieger and Megan Rapinoe helped that figure. The only thing that keeps it behind LaLiga in these standings is the presence of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Those two clubs have games available on ESPN Deportes, and fans regularly tune into games that do not even grab headlines.</p>



<p>Outside of the NWSL finals on network television, viewership of NWSL games is growing but finds itself well behind the other leagues.</p>



<p>Meanwhile, the Bundesliga and Serie A find most of its games on streaming. ESPN+ and Paramount+ typically do not make viewership numbers accessible. However, ESPN put a recent Dortmund-Leipzig game on ABC, where just over 400,000 fans tuned in. </p>



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<div class="ck-youtube"><iframe loading="lazy" title="NBC&apos;s Premier League TV Coverage - Behind The Scenes With Rebecca Lowe, Kyle Martino &amp; The 2 Robbies" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-La4imXf63c?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>
</div></figure>



<p>Combining all of the soccer TV and streaming viewership together in 2023, the Premier League represents <a href="https://twitter.com/HelltownBeer/status/1745126322647494815" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">30% of all viewership</a>. Liga MX follows closely behind at 23%. </p>



<p>The remaining leagues hover around 1% (or lower) of all viewership.</p>



<p><em>PHOTOS: IMAGO</em>.</p>

Most popular soccer leagues in the United States

American soccer fans may disagree about who they deem as the most popular leagues in the United States, but the numbers don't lie.

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<p>TV viewership in the United States for all soccer competitions in 2022 is now available. Specifically, regarding club competitions, there was a diverse array of competitions people in the United States watched. It is worth noting that the rankings of the soccer competitions on US TV do not include the 2022 FIFA World Cup. During the 2022 World Cup Final, 16,783,000 viewers tuned in on FOX. Yet, that number also includes FOX’s streaming platforms.</p>



<p>Before that winter World Cup, club competitions pulled in large audiences. CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, Telemundo broadcasted games from different competitions. Whether it be European games or North American leagues or even men’s leagues vs women’s competitions, there were several key differences in the most-watched soccer competitions on US TV. </p>



<p>The UEFA Champions League averaged the most viewers when it aired on CBS. Liga MX and the Premier League, unsurprisingly, also had massive audiences during games on Telemundo and NBC, respectively. However, the bottom of the list featured ABC’s coverage of the Bundesliga and Major League Soccer. </p>



<p><a href="https://twitter.com/HelltownBeer/status/1723052240762523959" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Helltown Beer</a> assembled the 2022 TV broadcast viewership. These figures do not include games simultaneously available on streaming. For example, the UEFA Champions League Final also aired on <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/channels/paramount-plus-2/">Paramount+</a>.</p>



<h2>The most-watched soccer competitions on US TV last year</h2>



<p>The following figures are the average viewership for those competitions in 2022 on the associated TV channel.</p>



<ol><li>UEFA Champions League (CBS) —&nbsp;964,000</li><li>Liga MX (Univision and Telemundo) —&nbsp;964,000</li><li>English Premier League (NBC) —&nbsp;818,000</li><li>Major League Soccer (FOX) —&nbsp;595,000</li><li>LaLiga (ABC) —&nbsp;490,000</li><li>National Women’s Soccer League (CBS) —&nbsp;489,000</li><li>FA Women’s Super League (NBC) —&nbsp;484,000</li><li>Bundesliga (ABC) —&nbsp;474,000</li><li>Major League Soccer (ABC) —&nbsp;473,000</li></ol>



<p>Now, you may ask yourself about the difference between FOX and ABC’s coverage of Major League Soccer. ABC carried 10 Major League Soccer games on ABC in 2022. By comparison, 34. Therefore, FOX established itself as more of a home for Major League Soccer in 2022. Perhaps that explains why FOX retained some of the MLS rights for TV broadcasting when Apple became the streaming home of the league in 2023.</p>



<p>As stated, it is no surprise to see Liga MX and the Premier League so high on this list. Those two competitions established themselves as the most popular among American audiences. Yet, CBS will see these statistics as a major success. The <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/cbs-and-paramount-break-champions-league-records-20230228-WST-421644.html">UEFA Champions League on CBS</a> has been a hit both on streaming and traditional TV broadcasts. In 2022, CBS broke the record for the most-watched UEFA Champions League Final for American audiences. In 2022, <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/2022/06/02/most-watched-champions-league-final-in-us-history/">2.761 million watched</a> Real Madrid defeat Liverpool. </p>



<h2>How may this change in 2023?</h2>



<p>Clear-cut information regarding the 2023 TV viewership of soccer competitions is not so easy to come by. However, it is already known this list will change. For example, ABC does not broadcast Major League Soccer games anymore. Also, each MLS game on FOX is available on <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tv/how-to-get-mls-season-pass-20230203-WST-417725.html">MLS Season Pass</a> from Apple. </p>



<p>CBS has continued to put UEFA Champions League games on its linear network. The knockout-stage viewership in the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League was up. Yet, the audience for the Final between Manchester City and Inter Milan was down compared to 2022. </p>



<p><em>PHOTOS: IMAGO</em>.</p>


Most-watched soccer competitions on US TV in 2022

TV viewership in the United States for all soccer competitions in 2022 is now available, and the familiar competitions lead the way.

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Most popular soccer leagues in the United States

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Most-watched soccer competitions on US TV in 2022