U.S. soccer ratings top NBA Finals
 

NEW YORK -- An estimated 21.6 million people watched Belgium knock out the United States in the World Cup on U.S. television -- an impressive total for a weekday afternoon that almost certainly undercounts how many people actually saw it.

The Nielsen company said Wednesday that 16.5 million people watched the game on ESPN, with 5.1 million more seeing it on the Spanish-language Univision network. In addition, nearly 1.7 million people watched an online stream of the event, Nielsen said.

The record U.S. television audience for soccer is the 24.7 million who saw the United States play Portugal on June 24, which tied the 2010 World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands.

The Portugal game took place on a weekend, however, when there were more people with free time available to watch. The U.S.-Belgium game started at 4 p.m. on the East Coast, earlier in other time zones, during a working day.

Nielsen does not measure viewership in bars, offices or other public places. In 2010, ESPN estimated that the stated audience size for weekday World Cup games would increase by 23 percent if public viewing were taken into account.

Still, Tuesday's knockout game exceeded the average viewership for the most recent World Series and NBA Finals, events that took place during prime-time when more people were home to watch.

The just-concluded NBA Finals where the San Antonio Spurs beat the Miami Heat averaged 15.5 million viewers, with 18 million watching the final game. Last fall's World Series averaged 14.9 million viewers, with 19.2 million watching the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the last game.

U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said on Wednesday that everyone connected with the soccer team is excited to see how the sport is reaching a U.S. audience. He could see it coming, given the popularity of the game among young people and the large crowds that turned out for the team's sendoff games before the World Cup.

"Soccer is breaking through and gets its deserved recognition without taking anything away from the other big American sports," Klinsmann said.

He said it's important for people to identify with the way Americans played the game.

"The energy and the commitment and the tempo and the aggressiveness that we played with kind of made people proud at home and surprised a lot of people outside of the United States, maybe in Brazil or in Europe," he said.

The highest overall ratings for the U.S.-Belgium game came in New York, Nielsen said.

ESPN said that overall viewership for the World Cup is up 44 percent over 2010.

Soccer will only be popular in the US every 4 years.

Somewhat true because the MLS ratings are still generally very low.

The MLS has made enormous gains in 20 years, but I guess the perception that it's a "lesser" league hurts it amongst a lot of soccer fans.

Yup, but the fact it's even popular at all is a huge step forward...

Honest question, is the MLS televised regularly? Do the majority of MLS fans watch other MLS games that don't include the team in their market? I'm a Royals fan, but I rarely watch other MLB baseball games. Living in KC, could I watch a San Jose/Salt Lake game on tv?

I might be more apt to check out some premiere league games now that I have some name recognition from the WC. I'd like to check out some MLS games as well.

Currently as big as hockey? In 20 years, bigger than baseball?

:hmmm:

The NBA is gawd-awful. Not a shock. I cannot believe anybody watches a second of that garbage. WHAT WILL THE BIG 3 DO ZOMG!?!?!

75% of the broadcast is players just standing around. It's boring.

Do you agree with me, that anybody who mentions that stupid phrase "The Big 3" should be zapped with a taser?

We haven't seen yet what kind of a boost MLS will get from the World Cup. You can go to MLS and see many or most of the players from the National Team, who just competed and held their own in the World Cup. That can only help.

I don't watch that garbage league, but isn't it the big 1, and two guys who are over the hill?

Yep.

I can't remember which channel it is, either Fox Sports 1 or NBC Sports will have a national game every week I believe. But I'm generally the same with Soccer as with Baseball, I watch Sporting and the Royals and that is it. Though I have pretty much reached that level with the NFL lately as well.

Could not agree more.

Yet, it's much better than college basketball.

I am alright with this moving of the goal post.

Every Sporting KC game is on here locally on 38 the spot though their next game this Sunday is on ESPN.

In addition to local broadcasts there are national games sometimes on ESPN or ESPN 2 other times on NBC Sports and every now and then on NBC.

Local viewership in MLS markets are decent but getting Sporting KC fans to watch Portland Timbers and Chicago Fire play is one of those things they want to continue to build.

Now having said that Sporting Kansas City vs Chicago Fire 2pm Sunday on ESPN! :D

Of course Comosexuals like the nba better, since their team usually stinks.

This is the last year of their current TV deal. Next year ESPN, Fox, and Univision share MLS rights which will also open up most games to be carried on the Watch ESPN platform. New 8 year deal is worth 90 million a year.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/articl...ision-deportes

Soccer sucks

2 sports that I can care less about. I would watch Golf before I watched Soccer or Basketball. And I am not watching Golf.

Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.

You're a sucky poster

I know i didnt care about another Spurs Heat finals...

It's ridiculous to compare one off events like soccer or football games with basketball and baseball series. It's apples and oranges.

The NCAA Basketball viewership also destroys the NBA. It doesn't necessarily mean it's better basketball.

Articles like this are just dumb from the get-go.

What do you expect from a coochsie thread?

Educated fans will take the nba; it's a far superior game.

You make a point, but did you read the article? The US played two games, I believe, before they even made it to the win-or-go-home portion of the World Cup. There were 24 million viewers tuned into the USA vs. Portugal game and 21 million for our elimination game against Belgium. Both of those ratings were higher than any game of the NBA Finals...

There are ~40-50 million illegals here right now... coincidence? I think not...

This year's World Cup crushed last year's World Series. The highest rated game from the World Series pulled 19million viewers.

It's sad that people spend so much time trying to convince others that a particular sport sucks, rather than just taking the time to learn and enjoy the sport. I've been hearing all month about how Americans dont like Soccer....yet the numbers suggest that it's only behind football.

It seems that more Americans enjoy the World Cup more than "America's favorite pastime".

There isn't an argument to be had anymore.

All but two teams were left in the NBA finals. That cuts a lot of fans out, thus lower ratings.


Anyone that says that the NBA sucks hasn't been watching the playoffs the last few years. It has been fantastic compared to the early/mid 2000's.

The regular season is an AIDS fire, though.

The NBA finals were over after Game 3.

Had that been a 7 game series, I imagine the viewer ratings would be far different.

You think all those Mexico fans become US soccer fans all the sudden. The rivals?

Old article is old.

The article is on the front page of ESPN.com, dumbass

Its KU basketball fans around these parts that generally think NBA basketball sucks.

I am not backing his post, but you can not discount a huge boost of millions of Mexican viewers in the US.

Yea, there was a game 7 in...what was it...2013? I am reading it got 26 millionish.

Don't talk to him. He's a dumbass. He pulled those numbers out of his ass and then assumes that all Illegals are Mexican.

He's one of the biggest biggoted dumbasses on the board. Don't think for a second that he can carry any sort of logical conversation.

And why does that matter? Are their numbers excluded when talking about the other major sports?

Last time i checked Mexicans also like football and baseball.

I'd be perfectly happy if they just ignored it if they don't like it.

I can't think of any other entertainment or enjoyment medium that has more people popping in to tell others how much they dislike it.

I don't go to SoapOperaPlanet, or RealityTVPlanet to tell people there that I think their shows suck and only gay people watch them.

I don't go to VeganPlanet or IHeartBrussellsSproutsPlanet to tell that that their diet sucks and only gay people eat that way.

Maybe its just me.

And with the huge nationalism element gone now (which doesn't exist in professional basketball obviously), the remaining World Cup games will get nothing close to that in the US.

Just like the nfl is far superior to the CFB. Obviously professionals are better.

Call your shot

Agreed.

Hearing them bitch about it is a lot like listening to a woman trying to figure out football.

"I don't get it. All they do is run around in tights trying to tackle each other. It's so stupid..."

You really don't think a ton of people will stop watching now?

In the interest of BB comity, I feel constrained to point out that, while I might rib you about your weight on occasion, I DON'T think you're 'Stanley on Free Pretzel Day' fat. ;)

So the biggest soccer audience in US history can't even come close to a Thursday night Browns-Ravens NFL audience on TV. :LOL:

Ha!

The point I'm trying to make is that this doesn't mean very much. It doesn't mean NBA basketball is in decline or that soccer in the US is on the rise. You can point to other data if you want to make arguments for either or both of those points, but this article that Cochise posted isn't the way to do it.

Shocking direction this thread took.

Not me, certainly.

You can't compare ANY sport to football in the U.S.

It's a stupid argument. The NFL is wildly popular. What does that have to do with the growth of soccer?

If there is one thing I have learned watching the World Cup, its that the vast majority of the players are not that good at scoring the ball. They can manipulate it, pass it, run with it, but when it comes time to shoot the ball they are not very good.

Sure a few get lucky here and there, but I would expect more consistency from the players. I cannot believe how horrible and off target some of their "shots" are. I used to think scoring would go up if some rules were changed, but now I realize the problem is not the rules, its the players.

It doesn't matter, but Zach said that "Mexicans suddenly become US fans", when in fact they don't have to be to tune in and boost ratings.

Last time I looked soccer is far and away more popular than Baseball and football for Hispanics.

I could be wrong, but probably not. I count hundreds of hispanics on the soccer fields around here compared to few on a baseball diamond or football field.

Dodge City and Garden City have a huge hispanic population that are from the heart of Mexico.

You might have a valid point if this board was called SoccerPlanet.

Well the bell curve and sample size is.... "the world" so maybe finishing is harder than you are giving credit for? You're watching the best in the world in a sport the world plays.

Thanks for your take, Ann Coulter.

Im not saying that Football/Baseball are MORE popular, but they are in fact popular. Im not sure that i know a Mexican that doesn't own a Chargers jersey.

Ever look at a Chargers home crowd? It's very "brown".

Sure.

Go ahead and post up some video of your amazing skills, maybe Klinnsman will happen across it.

US viewership will drop with the US being out, but I think the viewership in the remaining games will be much higher than previous World Cups after the US got knocked out. However, you also have to factor in that Brazil is basically in the same time zone as the US so that muddies the waters with ratings.

You might have a point if we only talked about football, let alone only the Chiefs, here.

I am sure finishing can be difficult at times, but when I watch a match and consistently see shots 20 feet wide and 20 feet too high I have to question how good they are at scoring.

I think the viewership for the rest of it might be able to top "Three's Company" re-runs.

So ehh...who is better? I mean. You are watching the World Cup.

My only point is that...if you sit back and watch NFL QBs and come away unimpressed with the passing skills of QBs then...it probably says more about the nature of passing than it does a deficiency in QBs unless you can point to a higher level. Ya know?

Unless you can then point to people who do it better than NFL QBs. The bell curve currently includes...soccer players in the world. This feels like a criticism more fitting for MLS than World Cup soccer.

:drool:

I also can't come close to playing golf like the professionals but that doesn't stop them from being really good, because you know, they are professionals.

My perception is that soccer is seeing a meteoric rise in popularity in this country. That's just my perception.

It depends on what kind of Hispanics you're talking about. Cubans, Dominicans and Puerto Ricans, who have sizable populations in America, are more into baseball.

The same can be said about Baseball players and hitters. Or NBA players and shooters.

We can say that they suck....or we can take into consideration the difficultly and the fact that..well....it's a lot harder to do when it's contested.

I get what you are saying, but I can't help but think they should be more consistently on target.

26.3 million watched last year's Finals Game 7.

So, even soccer has passed you up???

Fair enough. To me it just points to how hard it is to score a goal at the highest of levels.

That's the problem I have with soccer. I feel like it's a game that is fundamentally imbalanced towards the defense; that's not the player's fault, but it rewards flukish behavior nearly as much as excellent play.

To me, it's akin to playing baseball with 12 fielders with a 450 foot fence or football with three downs and 20 yards to get a first. Sure, it's possible, but it's unnecessarily difficult.

(Cue: "you're an impatient American")

The Super Bowl ratings have been in the 90 millions recently and rising, right?

Anyone have NFL postseason game ratings?

And regular season while you're at it?

K thanx!

3 different threads soccer fans are bitching because people dont like the shitty sport

Ha, so seems you wanted to be offended before I could offend you.

It is absolutely weighted towards defenders and one moment of hopeful swatting can undue amazing build up work that started 20 passes ago. Can be cruel and unjust...lower lows and higher highs when it all comes together.