Viewpoints Explained: After America’s Biggest World Cup Audience, What’s Next?

This is Viewpoints Explained…

Last month, the U.S. Men’s World Cup run ended with a four to one loss to Belgium. for fans, it was a frustrating early exit for the U.S. team, but the bigger story here may be soccer’s momentum after all the excitement around the world cup.

Fox Sports reported that thirty million people tuned into watch the U.S. versus Belgium match, making it the most-watched soccer event in U.S. history. For a sport that’s long been talked about as “still growing” here, that number’s a big deal. By comparison, the NBA finals averaged about 20 million viewers per game earlier this summer.

But soccer’s growth here over the last decade has been deliberate. Many leagues, clubs and investors have been working to make the sport a bigger part of American life. The top-level pro soccer league here, major league soccer or MLS, now has thirty clubs across the U.S. and Canada, up from sixteen in 2010. San Diego FC paid a reported 500-million-dollar expansion fee to join the league, and Kroll reported this year that five MLS teams are now valued at one billion dollars or more.

The star power has been deliberate too. The biggest example is soccer superstar Lionel Messi, who joined inter-Miami in 2023 after winning a world cup with Argentina. in June, Chicago Fire FC added Robert Lewandowski to the roster. he’s Poland’s all-time leading scorer, a two-time Fifa men’s player of the year and one of only three players to score 100 goals in the champions league.

The U.S. team’s early defeat in the world cup was a setback, but the audience didn’t disappear with them. with more money and bigger names in the game, soccer in the U.S. is entering a different stage.