World Cup final draws record 63 million US viewers, signals soccer's mainstream moment

July 21 : Nearly 63 million Americans tuned in to watch Spain beat Argentina in the FIFA World Cup final on Sunday, shattering viewership records and underscoring soccer's growing appeal in the U.S. after decades of efforts to broaden its audience.

Held in New Jersey, the final remained scoreless until Spain broke through in the 106th minute to secure a 1-0 victory.

Fox's English-language broadcast attracted 38.9 million viewers, while Comcast's Telemundo and its Peacock streaming platform pulled in another 23.9 million viewers for the Spanish-language coverage, the companies said. The combined audience far exceeded the 22.3 million U.S. viewers who watched the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar.

The strong viewership capped what analysts said was a solid run for the tournament's broadcasters, with Fox and Comcast paying roughly $485 million and $600 million, respectively, for rights packages that included the World Cup, according to media reports.

Several knockout-stage matches also outperformed recent championship games in other major U.S. sports. The Round of 16 meeting between England and Mexico drew nearly 45 million viewers, well above the roughly 27 million who watched Game 7 of Major League Baseball's World Series, when the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays in extra innings, and the nearly 25 million who tuned in for Game 5 of the NBA Finals, where the New York Knicks ended a 53-year title drought by defeating the San Antonio Spurs.

While the figures remained below the nearly 126 million viewers who watched Super Bowl LX, when the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots, they marked a significant milestone for a sport long overshadowed in the U.S. by American football, basketball and baseball.

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