SI

USMNT Drew Massive Copa America Ratings, But That's Over Now

Kyle Koster

Mar 24, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; United States midfielder Tyler Adams (4) and midfielder Weston Mckennie (8) and defender Chris Richards (3) and defender Tim Ream (13) celebrates a goal scored by Adams against Mexico during the first half at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 24, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; United States midfielder Tyler Adams (4) and midfielder Weston Mckennie (8) and defender Chris Richards (3) and defender Tim Ream (13) celebrates a goal scored by Adams against Mexico during the first half at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The good news for Fox is that the USMNT were ratings gold when they paricipated in Copa America matches. The bad news is that two of those highly-rated broadcasts were losses that helped eliminate Gregg Berhalter's side far earlier than fans hoped and amplified calls for his ouster.

Monday night's 1–0 stumble against Uruguay drew 3.777 million viewers, making it the most watched non-World Cup soccer telecast on FS1, according to a release from the network.

That number comes on the heels of last week's 2.469 million viewers who took in a 2–1 defeat to Panama and 3.165 million for a previous win over Bolivia.

Sports Media Watch notes that the Uruguay figure makes it the fourth-highest rated event on FS1 for the past year — against three American League Championship Series games. In short, when the national team is playing, the nation is tuning in.

This is significant win for Fox, which has the luxury of not stressing about the USMNT missing out on the World Cup in 2026 thanks to their hosting duties. But it also has to be a bummer that the ride ended so early as viewership would have conceivably grown higher and higher the deeper the U.S. advanced.

There's no rooting in the press box but there is plenty in the finance department and the combination of having all the matches in American time zones, combined with a serious run from a side desperate to achieve something could create ratings magic.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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