U.S. World Cup win sets domestic ratings record

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- U.S. men's soccer team beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0 in Santa Clara, California, advancing to the round of 16 — the program's first knockout-stage victory since 2002
- The U.S.-Bosnia match averaged 24.4 million viewers on Fox Sports, the most-watched soccer telecast in English-language history, with a peak audience of 31.8 million
- The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Final drew 22.3 million English-language viewers, the previous soccer benchmark that Wednesday's match surpassed
- The 2025 Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs averaged 127.7 million viewers across FOX, FOX Deportes, Telemundo, and Tubi, with a peak of 137.7 million in the second quarter
- The NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs averaged 20.6 million viewers on ABC and ESPN — the league's highest Finals mark since 1998
- The Mexico-Ecuador World Cup match drew 29.3 million combined U.S. viewers, the tournament's largest combined U.S. audience to that point
Why it matters: The U.S.-Bosnia broadcast averaged 24.4 million viewers, surpassing the 2015 Women's World Cup Final's 22.3 million and establishing itself as the most-watched English-language soccer telecast on record. For Fox and FIFA, the numbers validate World Cup inventory that now outperforms the NBA Finals (20.6 million) — though the 127.7-million Super Bowl audience still towers over all live sports in the U.S.


