Soccer, by far the world’s most prolific source of live televised events, is generally not considered a Tier 1 sport in the United States, or at least not one on par with football, basketball, baseball or even hockey But with the just completed 2026 FIFA World Cup producing its best global TV performance in history, shattering viewership records in North America, that might be changing fast.
According to Nielsen data released Tuesday, Fox averaged 38.9 million viewers for Sunday’s championship final match between Spain and Argentina across FOX broadcast and Fox One streaming channels. Meanwhile, NBCUniversal reported an additional 23.9 million Spanish-language viewers via Telemundo broadcast and Peacock streaming.
Fox’s coverage of the full 2026 World Cup averaged 7.74 million viewers across 104 matches, a 116% viewership increase over the 2022 World Cup, won by Argentina and hosted by Qatar.
With 2026 World Cup anticipation running high, premium streaming subscription service Fox One had, by far, its biggest signup month ever in June, enlisting around 2.8 million paid members, according to Antenna.
As Antenna also pointed out, it will be “interesting” to see if Fox One retains the lions’ share of these paid members, with NFL coverage about to ramp up in a big way on the platform starting next month.
Let's make some media deals
But the World Cup’s viewership surge seems to have also accelerated a broader spectrum of dealmaking for live soccer content.
On Sunday, for example, Telemundo announced that it had acquired exclusive Spanish-language rights in the U.S. to men’s club competitions for the Union of European Football Associations. The deal runs for three seasons, starting in 2027-28.
Just a few days before that, recent NBCU spinoff Versant announced an agreement with Germany’s top pro league, Bundesliga, which will bring 300 matches a season to the USA Network and the newly enabled Fandango streaming platform, starting next month and running through 2031.
“The current World Cup success disguises the truth [about] professional soccer: As a category, it has been a Tier 1 U.S. sport for over a decade,” wrote sports media consultant Patrick Crakes on X last week. “The reason why it doesn't feel that way is that it's the only T1 sport that's defined by a diverse set of multiple professional leagues.”
While the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL all rule over their respective sports, soccer viewership is more fragmented. As Crakes noted, Spanish-language broadcasts and streams of Liga MX matches probably control the largest share of soccer viewing, but rights are also spread across EPL, MLS, UEFA Champions and Bundesliga.