Three networks featured at least some soccer action for American fans to enjoy on the week of Aug. 25-31.
As always, Spanish language network TUDN led in total views with 1,119,000 over seven games and averaged 159,857 viewers per broadcast. Six of the seven games were Liga MX fixtures, which have been one of the main sources of viewership since the league's start in late July. The TUDN Liga MX broadcasts garnered 1,039,000 total views and averaged 173,167 viewers per broadcast. The reason why the TUDN's average was lower than Liga MX's average is that the network's seventh televised game was MLS's Atlanta United-Orlando City game, which only reached 80,000 total viewers.
Out of the seven matches, Mazatlan's 1-1 draw with Tigres UANL on Friday, Aug. 28, at 10:30 p.m. ET, which is primetime in areas in the US – California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas – where Mexican soccer is prevalent, drew a total of 242,000 viewers and earned a viewership rating of 0.10.
FOX Deportes, another Spanish language network, came second in total viewership, garnering a total of 320,000 views over two Liga MX games. That 10 p.m. ET primetime struck gold again on Sunday, this time for FOX Deportes, when a crowd of 194,000 tuned in to watch Monterrey defeat Juarez 2-1. Earlier that day, 126,000 viewers saw Santos Laguna defeat Queretaro 2-1. Fox Deportes ended up attracting a total of 320,000 viewers and averaged a healthy 160,000 viewers per game, which is on par with TUDN.
FOX Sports 1 only broadcasted one MLS game between LAFC and the Seattle Sounders that earned a 0.04 viewership rating, drawing in 117,000 viewers. Add the 80,000 total views that the Atlanta United-Orlando City game had, and it ends up totaling a lackluster 197,000 viewers and an average of 98,500.
Moreover, Major League Soccer has always had trouble when it comes to national television ratings and this broken 2020 season has been no different. The MLS is Back Tournament group stage matches averaged 222,000 viewers, but the tournament suffered about a 10% drop when it reached the knockout stages, which averaged 199,214 viewers on FS1, ESPN, and ESPN2. Major League Soccer needs to find ways to fix this. Maybe adapting to the rest of the soccer world without salary caps could help.
U.S. TV soccer viewership dropped 45 % from the week of Aug. 18-24 that added up to 2,829,000 to 1,556,000 on the week of Aug. 25-31.
TUDN
Liga MX: Puebla 4-1 Toluca on Friday, Aug. 28, at 8 p.m.
Viewership rating: 0.05
Total views: 168,000
Liga MX: Mazatlan 1-1 Tigres UANL on Friday, Aug. 28, at 10:30 p.m.
Viewership rating: 0.10
Total views: 242,000
MLS: Atlanta United 1-3 Orlando City on Saturday, Aug. 29, at 3:30 p.m.
Viewership rating: 0.04
Total views: 80,000
Liga MX: Club Atletico San Luis 1-2 Club America on Saturday, Aug. 29, at 7:30 p.m.
Viewership rating: 0.09
Total views: 186,000
Liga MX: Cruz Azul 3-0 Necaxa on Saturday, Aug. 29, at 10 p.m.
Viewership rating: 0.09
Total views: 223,000
Liga MX: Pumas UNAM 3-0 Club Tijuana on Sunday, Aug. 30, at 12:30 p.m.
Viewership rating: 0.04
Total views: 95,000
Liga MX: Leon 2-1 Atlas on Monday, Aug. 31, at 9:30 p.m.
Viewership rating: 0.05
Total views: 125,000
FOX Deportes
Liga MX: Santos Laguna 2-1 Queretaro on Sunday, Aug. 30, at 7:45 p.m.
Viewership rating: 0.05
Total views: 126,000
Liga MX: Monterrey 2-1 Juarez on Sunday, Aug. 30, at 10 p.m.
Viewership rating: 0.07
Total views: 194,000
FOX Sports 1
MLS: Seattle Sounders 3-1 LAFC on Sunday, Aug. 30, at 10 p.m.
Viewership rating: 0.04
Total views: 117,000
Projected top-3 audience games Sept. 1-6
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
