U.S. soccer ratings top NBA Finals

[Eleazar]

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.

[BWillie]

If it beat the NBA finals, it must have dwarfed the World Series

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

Soccer is going to blow up in the US!/ Says someone every year for the last 20 years.

Interestingly enough, soccer is pretty dangerous when it comes to head injuries. But I'm willing to bet that with the negative attention the NFL has continued to get around the danger of the game, you'll see a lot of young athletic kids picking up soccer. Kids playing soccer means more parents paying attention to soccer, and kids will likely end up loyal fans (easier to convert a kid to a sport than to a grown up).

I don't think soccer will ever blow up in the US. But if you don't think soccer hasn't gotten a shitload of positive attention, you're kidding yourself. The MLS is doing better in markets that invest smartly in the sport (KC, Portland, Seattle). And English Premiere League is doing very well in the US too.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Interestingly enough, soccer is pretty dangerous when it comes to head injuries. But I'm willing to bet that with the negative attention the NFL has continued to get around the danger of the game, you'll see a lot of young athletic kids picking up soccer. Kids playing soccer means more parents paying attention to soccer, and kids will likely end up loyal fans (easier to convert a kid to a sport than to a grown up).

I don't think soccer will ever blow up in the US. But if you don't think soccer hasn't gotten a shitload of positive attention, you're kidding yourself. The MLS is doing better in markets that invest smartly in the sport (KC, Portland, Seattle). And English Premiere League is doing very well in the US too.

I get the MLS getting more popular here, but what I dont get is why any American gives a shit about the EPL and Premier League etc. They barely have any American players, its on a different continent. Why would you be concerned about it?

Im a big baseball and basketball fan but I dont concern myself with the Japanese pro baseball league or the european pro basketball leagues. Its just very odd to me. So many ppl want to be European because its trendy. Its a new trend in the last 10 years. As can be seen w the rise of EDM as well (which I do like by the way) but thr trend is just annoying

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I get the MLS getting more popular here, but what I dont get is why any American gives a shit about the EPL and Premier League etc. They barely have any American players, its on a different continent. Why would you be concerned about it?

Im a big baseball and basketball fan but I dont concern myself with the Japanese pro baseball league or the european pro basketball leagues. Its just very odd to me. So many ppl want to be European because its trendy. Its a new trend in the last 10 years. As can be seen w the rise of EDM as well (which I do like by the way) but thr trend is just annoying

I get why people like the other leagues but solely choosing them over your own domestic league is what I don't get. Oh well...life long. Kansas Citians are walking around right now with Yankees hats on I suppose.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I get the MLS getting more popular here, but what I dont get is why any American gives a shit about the EPL and Premier League etc. They barely have any American players, its on a different continent. Why would you be concerned about it?

Im a big baseball and basketball fan but I dont concern myself with the Japanese pro baseball league or the european pro basketball leagues. Its just very odd to me. So many ppl want to be European because its trendy. Its a new trend in the last 10 years. As can be seen w the rise of EDM as well (which I do like by the way) but thr trend is just annoying

The MLS is is essentially a minor league. If you want to watch the best players in the world, you watch international play.

[KCTitus]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I get the MLS getting more popular here, but what I dont get is why any American gives a shit about the EPL and Premier League etc. They barely have any American players, its on a different continent. Why would you be concerned about it?

Im a big baseball and basketball fan but I dont concern myself with the Japanese pro baseball league or the european pro basketball leagues. Its just very odd to me. So many ppl want to be European because its trendy. Its a new trend in the last 10 years. As can be seen w the rise of EDM as well (which I do like by the way) but thr trend is just annoying

The best possible explanation I can give to you why I follow the English Premiere League is it is one of the best soccer leagues in the world. Just like someone from Europe would follow the NBA. Sure, the basketball leagues in europe might be good, but they're not as good as the NBA.

Compared to the MLS, the English, German, Spanish and Italian Leagues are light years better. So, if one did want to watch the game played at its highest level, it's not here in the USA.

[chiefsfan987]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I get the MLS getting more popular here, but what I dont get is why any American gives a shit about the EPL and Premier League etc. They barely have any American players, its on a different continent. Why would you be concerned about it?

Im a big baseball and basketball fan but I dont concern myself with the Japanese pro baseball league or the european pro basketball leagues. Its just very odd to me. So many ppl want to be European because its trendy. Its a new trend in the last 10 years. As can be seen w the rise of EDM as well (which I do like by the way) but thr trend is just annoying

Why does anyone outside of the US give a shit about the NFL, NBA, or MLB? It's the same reason that people inside the US give a shit about the Premier League, La Liga etc. It's because people like to watch the best talent in said sport.

[aturnis]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

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.

Probably the dumbest post of the thread.

The highest rated world cup game did not include the US.

[Deberg_1990]

Looks like Hollywood wants capitalize and to remake "Victory" now. The old WWII set Stallone/Caine/Pele movie. Used to love this movie as kid when it played on HBO 5 times a day. LOL







http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014...cer-doug-liman

[BWillie]

This PK stuff is really stupi. I like the fact they go to PKs to decide the winner for draws in the knockout rounds , but its so stupid how close it is. The GK has no chance, they dive the wrong way half of the time. Wouldnt it be more skillful, and more entertaining for it to be twice as far out and see some real strikes? Just makes total sense to do that to me...and why they still have draws is beyond me.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by aturnis

Probably the dumbest post of the thread.

The highest rated world cup game did not include the US.

What really? Non US world cup games IN THE US out drew the games the US actually played in??? Where do you see that

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by BWillie

and why they still have draws is beyond me.

You mean like american football, hockey, etc..

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by jd1020

You mean like american football, hockey, etc..

There has seriously been like two draws in the NFL in like six years. Its so rare that in the last one many players mentioned they didn't even know the rules and that the game can even end in a tie.

Lengthen the PK, no ties no matter what. You have to admit it would be better. Soccer should really consider some changes, just like the NBA added the 3 pt line, the shot clock, etc

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by BWillie

There has seriously been line two draws in the NFL in like six years. Its so rare that in the last one many players mentioned they didn't even know the rules and that the game can even end in a tie.

Lengthen the PK, no ties no matter what. You have to admit it would be better. Soccer should really consider some changes, just like the NBA added the 3 pt line, the

I think soccer is doing just fine.

[Sully]

I'm always amused when people spout off about how little athleticism it takes to play any given sport.
Ummm, those guys are making MILLIONS. If it's that easy, why aren't you doing it? You hate money?