Wouldn't matter as MLS sold rights over seas at a flat rate. Going forward this only matters to Apple TV and how they sell advertising. Fox made a deal knowing they weren't exclusive and weren't responsible for production.
For comparison, the 2025 Stanley Cup finals averaged 2.5 million in the US and 1.4 million in Canada on their primary distribution network (ABC/TNT).
Adjusting for population, that's only equivalent to like 10.7 million in the US. Hockey isn't as popular in Canada as we think it is.
If soccer becomes as popular in the US as hockey is in Canada we can all relax. Maybe people who live in Ontario, Quebec, the Atlantic provinces and BC aren't that interested in Edmonton.
The FA Cup final, England football's (and linear TV sport's) showpiece event tops out at about 9 million across all platforms, with a 6 million-ish average. That's about 10% of the population of England and Wales. It's regularly outdrawn by the Eurovision Song Contest final (which often doesn't feature the UK). So maybe sport in general isn't as popular as you think. The Super Bowl is an event, with family traditions based around it, which makes it an outlier. And my experience of Super Bowl parties is that at least half the room don't have eyes on the TV between commercials.
Is the NHL not North America's premier professional Hockey league? Is MLS not the premier professional soccer league in the United States and Canada? Therefore if the NHL gets higher viewership numbers than MLS, is it not fair to say that the NHL is more popular than MLS?
"Essential to Move Away From MLS Season Pass": Egan Opens Up on MLS Changes https://rg.org/news/soccer/essential-to-move-away-mls-season-pass-kevin-egan-opens-up-mls-changes
Agree on that, but the statement is soccer in general is more popular than hockey in USA, Soccer ( all competitions on tv and participation) vs Hockey ( all competitions on tv and participation) and maybe more popular than Baseball.
Question, in USA college sports I think tackle ball is the most popular follow by basketball but wich ones are 3, 4, 5 etc on teams sports?
Probably baseball is #3 for team sports but it’s a long way down to that level from football/basketball.
My estimation of college team sports popularity: Football *gap* Men's basketball *gap* Women's basketball *big gap* Baseball/Softball Volleyball Soccer ??? At the level under women's basketball the order is easily switched by region or school specialty. Gymnastics is huge at Utah, track at Oregon, and the best crew team in the country at Washington is incorporated into Seattle's boating Opening Day celebrations every year.
With soccer taking off in the last 30 years I am surprised the NCAA soccer attendance record remains so low.
I'd say baseball has the most widespread national relevance after basketball, though it may fall off in colder areas that play a shorter season. Ice hockey and lacrosse have regional relevance--there's a handful of schools where men's ice hockey is a more important winter sport than men's basketball.