U.S. men's team match drew record 45.1 million U.S. viewers

The U.S. men's national team match against Belgium on July 6 averaged 45.1 million viewers in the United States, according to a USA Today calculation of data from the Wall Street Journal and Fox. The figure includes 33.1 million on Fox's English-language broadcast and 12 million on Telemundo and Peacock's Spanish-language coverage.

Mexico's round-of-16 game against England on July 5 averaged 44.9 million viewers, split between 23.2 million on Telemundo and Peacock's Spanish-language coverage and 21.7 million on Fox's English-language broadcast, per Sports Media Watch.

Record context The 45.1 million total for the U.S. match ranks fifth among major U.S. sports' biggest single-event TV audiences when counting each sport's top event once. The NFL's 2025 Super Bowl led with 127.7 million viewers, followed by the 1973 "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match at 50 million and the 1980 World Series Game 6 at 54.9 million.

Before the 2026 World Cup, the previous high for men's soccer in the United States was the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France, which averaged 26.73 million viewers. The U.S. team's round-of-32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier in the tournament drew 36 million viewers.

Match details The U.S. match ended in a 4-1 loss to Belgium.

The Mexico-England game was a five-goal contest that England won while playing a man down for more than 40 minutes. The U.S. versus Belgium match surpassed the largest NBA audience on record, Michael Jordan's final Chicago Bulls game in the 1998 NBA Finals, which drew 35.9 million viewers.

It also exceeded the 2015 Women's World Cup final between the United States and Japan, which averaged 26.7 million viewers.