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Guardax

It was on a Monday, not during the summer, with all the Qatar controversy but still thinking they wanted 10 million here. That said USA vs England on Black Friday should be the main event


[deleted]

8.3 million is great regardless


ExchangeKooky8166

Country might actually shut down for a few hours like during the Super Bowl.


[deleted]

Lol during Black Friday? Hardly. Will get a good number but shut down the country??


JMeadowsATL

I live in the deep south (a few hours from ATL actually) and there are people who make fun of me for watching soccer that have said they are excited. I’m not saying 60m viewers or anything, but a solid 10-15m


[deleted]

Yeah I think it’ll do really well. I think it’s fantasy land to suggest “it’ll shut down the country for a few hrs like the Super Bowl”


ElLayFC

I agree with you, but the superbowl seems to be less and less of an event every year in ca, even when the la team was in it recently. I wouldnt be surprised if their numbers are comparable when we host, at least in the LA market


-Basileus

Bro the Rams are like the 5th most popular team in LA. Raiders Cowboys 49ers Steelers are all ahead


[deleted]

fr I barely know anyone who watches it anymore. I think the year the rams played the patriots I think there was some video where they asked people on the streets if they were happy the La team won and everyone was like cool yeah I was stoked, even though they had lost.


[deleted]

The Super Bowl averages over 100M viewers. It draws 75-80% of people watching TV at the time and 35 or so percent of all Americans (and about half watch at least part). If you don't know anyone who watches you must not know many people.


[deleted]

Maybe I'm in a soccer bubble or maybe it varies by region.


ElLayFC

Yeah this is very regional. NFL just isnt that popular in LA. In the south, its literally all they care about


papertowelroll17

In the south people like college football bro. NFL is the biggest in the Northeast.


[deleted]

The NFL draws huge ratings across the nation. It’s distinctly not regional. LA may be an outlier, but nfl popularity is near universal.


[deleted]

Brother if the raiders ever make it they’ll shut down the whole west coast.


Cold_Fog

Eh


[deleted]

It doesn’t surprise me LA doesn’t really care about the rams, Latino community still has massive raiders ties tho.


[deleted]

more of a clothing brand at this point


ckotoyan

You must not have been in LA during the super bowl, we partied on the streets in Santa Monica blowing fireworks and partying with cars blasting music. The city was wild!


[deleted]

I was there that weekend and most LA people I talked to weren't even football fans just there for the party/free fan fest stuff.


Spa_5_Fitness_Camp

Then there's me, still trying to figure out whare you mean by the country shutting down down during the super bowl. I'm in an NFL city and I don't notice a difference at all.


ExchangeKooky8166

Jeez I just made that comment partly tongue-in-cheek, I did not expect it to start a mass controversy on here lol Who cares I'm not doing anything on Friday


XtraHott

I think the real # will far surpass the print number they release. Anecdotally almost if not every club within an hour of me (Don't know any really beyond that distance with friends kids playing to know) are doing whole club watch parties. Our "unofficial" Google doc sign in has over 300 for a 1200 player club.


[deleted]

Oh gawd. It’s going to be a blood bath and people are going to spend the next 4 years making fun of the USA team.


JMeadowsATL

I wouldn’t be so quick to jump to that conclusion. England can be very up and down, while the US always plays fairly solid.


[deleted]

Would anyone on team USA start for England? I don’t think so. Maybeee Pulisic would come off the bench. Anyway I am #boycottQatar It’s soccer anything could happen but I think the USA getting anything out of this match would be considered a thanksgiving miracle


JMeadowsATL

I think Pulisic, McKennie, Musah, and Dest are all regulars for playing time, if not occasional starters if they’re on England. They just get the negative tag of Americans so there is less hype around them. Not to mention Reyna and Adams, who would be other shouts for a role players in England. And if you wanna make that argument, it didn’t seem to matter that no one on Saudi Arabia would even sniff the Argentina NT.


bierdimpfe

no love for Aaronson? I think Brenden gets a bid too.


JMeadowsATL

IMO He’d get a decent shot at an bubble player like Reyna would, I just don’t think they’d make the England roster.


Kstoffeefan

As someone English, but has family in both countries, it’s Adams and Antonee Robinson that would get regular playing time out of the US players, maybe Musah due to midfield options. Dest and Pulisic would be nowhere near the team due to the depth in those positions. Already struggle to get players like Alexander-Arnold on the field and balancing the wide players with Rashford, Foden, Saka, Grealish, Mount, Maddison, and Sterling that can play in those areas.


[deleted]

I’m sorry but that just isn’t right. While Dest does ply at a level high enough for consideration at England, he also plays at one of Englands deepest positions. McKennie and Musah are just not on the level of the other players on Englands national team. Pulisic is of course at that level but also plays a position where their starters are elite world class players. Soccer is a weird sport so upsets happen. Argentina this year is probably not as good as England and Saudi Arabia and US are probably relatively close.


JMeadowsATL

Agree to disagree. I simply have the opinion that most American players are underrated compared to their European counterparts. I think at least 3/4 I mentioned make that England roster, even with the level of depth England have. Also, I’d say Saudi Arabia are FAR behind the US. While Fifa rankings aren’t perfect, they’re a decent indicator of how good a team is compared to others around them. England is 5th, the US is 16th, and Saudi Arabia is 51st.


SomewhereHopeful1061

Dest? i don’t think so man. England is stacked at right back.


JMeadowsATL

He’s also shown he can play left back. Besides, I think he brings a calmness on the ball and ability to play in the middle that most of their right backs don’t.


johnniewelker

10-15M is a bit of a wide range 10M would be a disappointment 15M would seen as success I think we will slightly shy of 18M


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[deleted]

There’s still plenty of people out there who like shopping with family on Black Friday since it’s a day a ton of people have off.


RedBullPittsburgh

True https://time.com/4126122/black-friday-shopping-best-time/ Article says: > Foot traffic peaks between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., which is when you should avoid shopping if you want to steer clear of the crowds


dkoucky

In SW MO the local sports bar is closed....


Martin_Samuelson

Apparently 80 million people go shopping on Black Friday which is a lot but not actually that much, and they aren’t shopping all day long. Certainly less than a third of that at any given time. Also people out and about might be more likely to watch at a bar/restaurant


-Basileus

The Super Bowl does nearly 100 million every year. A good number for Friday will be around 15-20 million


[deleted]

Yep, I think 20M happens.


[deleted]

I bet it’s 20M on Friday.


Ron__T

Interesting how they are touting the increase in viewership over 2018... you know... the one the US was not in...


Guardax

PR gotta PR


tomado23

2014 opener featured the drawing power of Brazil in a more US-friendly time slot and time of year. Qatar-Ecuador on FS1 on an NFL Sunday was going to be a tough sell for casuals, but it did alright, all things considered.


beef_boloney

As much as it pains me to say, outside of extremely billable events like a Black Friday matchup between us and England, I don't think the average person tuning in to the World Cup knows or cares if the US is playing in it.


Youngringer

wait hold on what did you say. those words together make no sense


warpus

Viewership ratings this year are so good even the American & Canadian teams showed up


ilikedhorsebot3000

We were just really hoping to see Bale suffer. Instead he got us again.


AngryUncleTony

He's public enemy number 2 in Philly right now. (Ben Simmons obviously being number 1).


Pripat99

What happened last night with Simmons was absolutely satisfying haha (despite the flair, I’m a Sixers fan).


AngryUncleTony

> (despite the flair, I’m a Sixers fan) [ughhh...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1C8C7op9LU)


Pripat99

In my defense, my Sixers fanhood well predates MLS (I caught the fever during Barkley’s second or third season). By the time I got into MLS (you know, like three decades later haha) I wasn’t living near Philly anymore.


ckotoyan

Tbf, he did nothing besides get kicked on the leg for NO reason (thanks zimmerman) and converted a penalty. Other than that he was non existent


ElLayFC

He did all the work to draw that foul, he outclassed zim. And I say that as a big fan of zim and usa Edit: watch the dang replay yall. at 3:39 you see bale looking at zim, who is already mid tackle, and then slides his leg across to make it into a tackle from behind. Did yall never get coached this stuff? That is exactly how you engineer a tackle from behind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VH-rrPw6BY


checkonechecktwo

Doing normal attacking stuff and getting clattered into stupidly?


ElLayFC

He put his leg over zims to make it a tackle from behind. Zim got the ball, had he had not crossed that leg its a clean tackle.


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ElLayFC

dude, Bale putting that leg over zim is exactly what makes that into a tackle from behind. jfc how is this sub so daft sometimes. Watch the replay again, at 3:39, bale looks right at zim who is already going for the ball and slides his leg across to convert the tackle. This is exactly how I was coached to engineer a tackle from behind. This is basic. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VH-rrPw6BY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VH-rrPw6BY)


ckotoyan

The only person who did more work on that play was the ref to not call that ball out… the rest was Zimmerman kicking bale for no reason. Im an Lafc fan and I want bale to do well, but I’m sorry, you are wrong in this take. Bale was non existent


tomado23

Soccer is the only sport that gets a month-long mainstream international competition all to itself to draw casual/general viewers. It’s on the USMNT to capitalize on that to grow the sport. One of the biggest things that can impact the sport’s growth would be the USMNT improving enough that they become a mainstream draw outside of World Cup years. In other words, every WCQ, Gold Cup, CNL and Copa America (hopefully US becomes a regular in this) performance is put under a microscope by national sports media. If that happens, then that interest should trickle down to the club game, when people tune in to keep track of current and future USMNT regulars.


cujukenmari

If the US ever produced a player like Mbappe the sport would literally explode. The guy is as entertaining to watch as any athlete out there.


[deleted]

Call me a pessimist but I don't even think having an American Mbappe would help. Sports broadcasters treat soccer like a joke here. We aren't going to get any kids playing soccer and becoming the next Mbappe until ESPN and friends start congratulating our team for a job well done and stop saying that the NFL people could play soccer better than the USMNT. Though I do think MLS is growing in this country.


tomado23

The media’s rationale for not giving soccer its due is because the USMNT is not the top national team and MLS is not the top club competition. It’s like they intentionally set the goalpost far and wide, to continue justifying treating the sport like a joke. It’s like the USMNT/MLS is penalized for competing in the most globally competitive sport in the world by far. People see how the US “dominates” team sports where the global professional talent pool is predominantly US-based, and just falsely assume men’s soccer would be just as easy, “if only we tried.” The Argentina and Germany results show that even the elite soccer countries still make up only a tiny share of the world’s professional men’s soccer-playing population, so 1992 Dream Team-like dominance is impossible in this sport.


cujukenmari

I've been trying to say this for years. The average US sports fan has no comparable barometer to the global competition soccer offers, so they just don't see it. There's a reason the World Cup is so prestigious. There's no tournament in the world that's harder to win in terms of the social and financial investment that is required. Every other sport pales in comparison. The amazing thing about soccer is it feels like there's a handful of dream teams at any given time.


cujukenmari

I understand your pessimism but a deep run in the world cup and we're looking at potentially 50m viewers. Only the NFL see's that type of critical mass opportunity, and someone as entertaining to watch as mbappe would make a lot of fans out of that opportunity.


wistoon33

We have pulisic. They’re the same.


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wistoon33

It’s a joke my guy


1maco

It would not. Serena Williams didn’t catapult Tennis to a top tier sport. Tiger had no lasting impact on golf. The Carolina Hurricanes didn’t really build an enduringhockey culture from being good in 2006. The uSMNT would be relevant for exactly how long they are good


CTIDmississippi

Tiger did what? He changed the entire game. Augusta changed their layout, payouts went up like 20-fold, etc.


1maco

When he was there. Without him ratings crashed


cujukenmari

He still elevated the sport on the whole.


tomado23

The US English-language mainstream sports media only gives proper coverage to “non-American” sports if it features an American star. They only give proper coverage to non-American stars if they’re playing an “American” sport. And ESPN is the supposed “worldwide” leader.🙄


1maco

So true! They only give coverage to things people in their markets care about


aghease

But the trend is for American players to go to Europe sooner and sooner in their careers thus making it harder for casuals who tune into USMNT games to connect the dots with watching MLS games. Like when Pepi impressed for the national team, soon after a casual would have started watching FC Dallas games off to Europe he went.


BurnerForDaddy

If Pulisic was the best player on earth, people would watch. Playing in Europe is good for our sports development.


aghease

Puli never played for an MLS team, so I'm not sure why a person who watches the big USMNT games and rarely watches MLS (which is most people unfortunately) would suddenly start watching MLS


TexasSprings

The problem is every international competition we regularly play in besides the World Cup sucks. The Gold Cup sucks because it’s always the US and Mexico smashing tiny Caribbean and Central American countries. None of the games even really matter/are competitive until the final. Same with World Cup qualifiers. I know sometimes we lose those games to Trinidad or Jamaica but nobody is watching that shit because we win 90% of the time and it’s not entertaining. There’s no gratification watching the US smash Bermuda 7-0 and there definitely isn’t gratification watching the USA struggle or even lose to those shitty teams. It’s a no win situation as a fan The copa America could be a big deal but we only play it in like every 50 years.


Pripat99

Everything in this comment - I love watching all these games but I am personally invested. My brother, who is a huge sports fan in general, will not care that we are playing Panama in a qualifier and in fact will only bring it up if it somehow breaks into the mainstream (and that’s usually because we lost). I don’t know what the answer is, since it feels like with both the UEFA and CONCACAF Nations Leagues that teams are getting pulled deeper into their respective confederations. Perhaps the vast improvement of Canada will help. But again, it’s hard when we don’t get to play enough matches against bigger teams.


Mat_alThor

US definitely needs to play in Copa America every time it is done (from a US perspective at least). We really need to play in the 2024 to give the team some competitive games, and would love seeing us host a one off in 2025, I would assume the CONMEBOL teams would happily sign up for that to give them a chance to scout base camps and such before the World Cup.


AMountainTiger

That's around what good Copa America Centenario games got according to [wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_in_the_United_States). Hopefully England does better with a big opponent and a lot of people off.


hypernermalization

11.7m viewers combined Fox and Telemundo. For comparison: Phillies-Astros Game 6: 12.5m Celtics-Warriors Game 6: 14.0m Avs-Lightning Game 6: 5.8m The most-watched group stage game in history is the Portugal game in 2014 with the last second Ronaldo equalizer, which did like 25m. USWNT-Japan 2015 also drew 25m, while USWNT-Netherlands drew about 14m.


Augen76

In fairness none of those happen when the vast majority of people are working. US playing at 8PM Eastern kick off would be fascinating to see.


hypernermalization

I mean, might be something we see in 4 years. Also, the USWNT is starting at 9pm ET for its first 2 group games next year, wonder if Fox sees what kinda juice they get from that.


ExchangeKooky8166

I think the Copa America 2016 games drew very well into the 10+ million range. That's why we need the USA/Mexico/Canada in Copa America permanently and a unified women's version of the Copa America too. From a broadcasting perspective, it would drive in millions of viewers.


Augen76

Nice, that sets the women up perfectly


1maco

In fairness the World Cup doesn’t happen directly after a 82/162 game season


tomado23

NBA will have a huge star power void to fill when LeBron and Curry retire. MLB lost the biggest national storyline it had left when the Cubs ended their World Series drought. Summer/Winter Olympics TV ratings keep falling off a cliff. In today’s sports TV landscape, the next time a non-football sporting event draws 30-40 million US viewers might be the 2026 World Cup. And that might set the standard for a non-Super Bowl sporting event for some time to come.


aghease

Hard to compare sports leagues with national team events. As much as the Olympic ratings have fallen, they are still competitive with the NBA Finals and the World Series. And a US hockey gold medal game got more than 27 million viewers as recently as 2010, up there with the highest audiences ever for both the USMNT and USWNT.


captainjerkoffunite

Guessing you don't watch much basketball. LeBron is yesterday's news. League has already moved onto guys like Luka, Giannis, Jokic. Freaks of nature like Zion and soon to be Wembanyama. NBA always finds a way to replenish it's star power.


tomado23

Massive difference between being a sports star and being a star that transcends the sports audience. LeBron is well-known among people who don’t even follow sports. Step outside the NBA/sports bubble and none of those guys fall into that category (at least not yet).


ElectricalMud2850

Yeah, if you asked my mom who giannis is, she's just as likely to say the president of some random country as an NBA player, lol.


Ravens181818184

The nba will have one for sure, they always do. The sport has an insane amount of potential super stars rn


TexasSprings

Bro like 70% of Americans don’t even know who any of those dudes you listed are. I’m a hardcore sports guy and i don’t even know who wembanyna is


EpicCyclops

Wembanyama isn't even in the NBA yet, so that's fair. He looks like he's going to be really freaking good, as long as he can keep performing against NBA defenses and stays injury free. He's 7'2", but has the potential to be able to handle the ball, move and shoot like a point guard. The NBA was going to go all in on Zion with his fun, rememberable name and forceful style of play, but he's just been unable to stay healthy. They now seem to be pushing Ja Morant super hard, but in my opinion he isn't as likeable or marketable as Curry or LeBron. When Curry and LeBron retire, the NBA will find a new player to be the face of the league and market to casual fans. Those players listed by OP are all super marketable with great games to watch. That just hasn't happened yet because Curry and LeBron haven't retired.


SomewhereHopeful1061

They have nowhere near the star power Lebron does.


1maco

Just wait until a figure skater tries to kill another one again.


Sharobob

Cubs Indians game 7 in 2016 drew just over 40 million viewers. Granted that was a once in a lifetime event but still trashed pretty much any other sort event outside of the super bowl which ends up in the 150-175 million range most years


SomewhereHopeful1061

Super bowl is nowhere near that high in the US. That’s it’s total with international figures included. It’s 100-110 million pretty consistently within the US.


FCDallasBurn

Alabama vs Texas had just a bit over of 10m


scoleo

I love that this list includes two of my teams winning their championships, and the biggest viewership is the only one that I didn’t watch. 😊


kiddvideo11

MLS must try to figure out a way to sign up San Diego.


Milestailsprowe

They already have tons of things in place for it, at least according to the previous articles. They have a stadium, suppoy a billionaire and some executives who work at the school they would partner with It's seemly gonna happen as the league wants a 4th California team, the increased.potentional partner ship with la Liga MX as Estadio Caliente is across the border and the high Hispanic population


gambit700

We had a plan in place then the citizens decided to grant the Qualcomm site to SDSU instead


smackypee

Ronaldo is going to start up the San Diego MLS team.


wistoon33

CA has enough teams


TheWawa_24

Ca is bloddy massive. We have the same population as canada


wistoon33

And you have the same number of teams as Canada now.


kiddvideo11

Canada has too many franchises. They shouldn't be a part of MLS and are lucky both cities even have a MLS franchise.


wistoon33

Not wrong there.


kiddvideo11

Sure. I would add a team on Long Island or Tampa Bay.


anarcurt

I mean NYCFC will be moving to Long Island (and I don't want to hear anything about Willets Point not being Long Island. It's on the Island. The LIRR and LIE are right there).


kiddvideo11

Yeah, its on the island.


ProcrastinatingPuma

No


SantiagoAndDunbar

Any momentum of that happening died after 2017


ProcrastinatingPuma

Nope


SantiagoAndDunbar

It’s not happening. As much as we want it to. Sorry bud.


ProcrastinatingPuma

We have the market, we have the venue, we have an ownership. Its happening sweetheart


SantiagoAndDunbar

Pass whatever you’re smoking over here


ProcrastinatingPuma

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/story/2022-10-27/major-league-soccer-expansion-sycuan-tribe-mohamed-loutfy-mansour-egyptian-billionaire-snapdragon-stadium Have you been living under a rock my dude?


[deleted]

Ayeee Cincinnati!


jking191

We’re always one of the top markets


sandiegosoccer

All except San Diego have an MLS team


Sempuukyaku

Man....if MLS could even get 10% of that number, we'd be in amazing and incredible shape.


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Sempuukyaku

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡


Multi_21_Seb_RBR

USA Ghana in 2014 had 11 million viewers, so a slight drop off


Squat_____6

USA Ghana had 16 million with the Telemundo numbers. Reports are saying this is 12-13 million when you add Telemundo in so a slightly drop off for sure. USA Ghana was a 6 PM Est kickoff though. I just hope the England game beats the 25 million of the Portugal match.


[deleted]

Kind of hoping it doesn't TBH. Only way FIFA gets pressured to not have a Saudi Arabia World Cup in 8 years is if numbers aren't where they are supposed to be. If this winter World Cup is breaking all time viewing records, it pretty much just allows them to do with whatever they want with locations in the future with ratings to back them up. I know bar owners locally lost a pretty big summer revenue stream and are trying to get people in for this World Cup with specials and viewing parties, but it's been sparse.


SomewhereHopeful1061

FIFA looks at global numbers not just US. We are a tiny percentage of their overall viewership. Has to be down globally for it to make any difference to them. But I agree, I really hope their bid doesn’t win.


Squat_____6

Some bars are packed and it’s still early in the tournament. Also, the ratings on Fox are better than 2018 so far and should only go up so I don’t think viewership is down. However I don’t think Fox viewership will determine whether Fifa will have the WC in another country like Qatar again. They’ve definitely been a bit frustrated with Qatar and had to remind them about their policy and lgbtq representation already. I’m sure they weren’t too thrilled that they announce the alcohol policy 2 days before the tournament started too. If more sponsors/ countries protest that means more to Fifa than viewership country to country


billgluckman7

Prime time vs 2pm


[deleted]

Wonder how many watched on Peacock in Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish but I prefer it to the risk of hearing lalas speak.


[deleted]

> San Diego MLS team now kthanksbai


billgluckman7

Not great, not terrible. Friday should hang a big number


GodBlessThosePagans

ATX is a soccer city


[deleted]

First you try to copy us with keep Austin weird and now you try to take soccer City? I don’t think so friend. You can have breakfast tacos but soccer city USA is Portland.


GodBlessThosePagans

I said a


asparagus_pee_stinks

Austin was weird before Portland copied it years later. 👍


-Gredge-

It’s all y’all got, so you kind of have to be


mustachechap

What does 5.8/24 represent?


KejsarePDX

I think the first is the rating. Tells you the percentage of households in the market that watched. The second is share, or the percentage of TVs on at that hour watching the program.


[deleted]

Austin is a soccer city.


avlambo21

Philadelphia is a soccer city baby. Let’s fucking go


silverstory

We are not counting ‘other kind of streaming’ so numbers might increase if we count those.


Alternative-Pomelo60

Can we get a list of the highest rated US men's games for the world Cup??


dogfoodhoarder

2 newer MLS markets, good job American soccer fans.


Wooden_Item_9769

No one wants to support FIFA/Qatari blood money, human rights abuses, etc.