NEW YORK: Fifa fever continues. More people in the United States tuned in to the US-Belgium World Cup soccer match on July 1 than they did for the World Series of baseball, which is the top championship game for the sport, also known as the national pastime.
Disney-owned ESPN said it was the second-highest rated men’s soccer game, with about 16.5 million viewers, and that it bested its record for its streaming video app WatchESPN, with 1.1 million viewers. Spanish-language broadcast network Univision said 5.1 million watched the US play Belgium in the knockout match.
The number of people watching the US and Belgium match was likely much higher, given that scores of thousands jammed restaurants and sports stadiums to view the contest. Nielsen, which provides television ratings, measures only US households.
The more-than 22 million watching on Tuesday beat the number of viewers — some 19 million — who tuned in to see the Boston Red Sox win the World Series last year. Still, football has a long way to go before it catches up in popularity with American football. The National Football League’s annual Super Bowl drew in more than 111 million US viewers this year.
Belgium beat the US 2-1 during extra time in the hard-fought contest, setting up the European team to go up against Argentina in the quarter finals. REUTERS
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2014.
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