Wow this was even more insane than I imagined. Imagine you're a Brazilian visiting the US for the first time, you attend a World Cup match and then get caught up in one of the biggest sporting celebration in this country's history.
What a week it was for sports in America. I know a lot of chatter was negative about.... You name it, but the reality is much different. Even with the NBA and NHL deciding championships this week and 85K in DC for UFC, you still had big crowds for games at the World Cup. All the while MLB is on pace for 74 million this year and the highest total since 2013.
How do all those MLB fans survive in the heat? It's inhumane! Apparently soccer fans are dropping like flies. Move MLB!
Gonna be second highest average attendance of all time and with many more games yet half he internet is bitching and moaning about literally nothing. Even politically - it was Canada that didn't let a player in while all the focus was on our (obviously bad) policies.
NBA Final Knicks vs Spurs- 16.1 mill viewers USA vs Paraguay in aWC Group Match- 15.95 mill viewers i will let that sink in regarding attendance at BC Place Stadium- it only holds 55K minus the 1K or 2 K set aside for FIFA officials and often go unused- so 53K is all that you can get for WC game attendance
That's incorrect sir: ABC and ESPN scored the most-watched NBA Finals since 1998, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel. Saturday’s NBA Finals Game 5 on ABC delivered an average audience of 24.5M viewers and peaked with 33M viewers watching the closing moments of the Knicks Championship victory. It… pic.twitter.com/QNkezipYRE— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 16, 2026 Also, these figures don't take into account the millions of New Yorkers watching the game on the sides of buildings outside on the streets of NYC either.
Telemundo’s presentation of the NBA All-Star Game across Telemundo, Peacock and the Telemundo app averaged a TAD of 337,000 total viewers, ranking as the most-watched NBA game on Spanish-language television in 20 years — since 2006 when Nielsen began measuring Spanish-language networks in the national sample. The game peaked at the 7 p.m. quarter hour with 443,000 total viewers. Telemundo Scores Historic Sports Weekend with Most-Watched Clasico de Mexico Since 2020 and Highest-Rated NBA Game on Spanish-Language TV in 20 Years - NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises Press Releases https://share.google/tTo1xFpFqtKI6IuRa
2026 FIFA WORLD CUP 6/16/2026 80,545 @ NY/NJ 63,106 @ Boston 69,045 @ Kansas City 68,527 @ San Francisco
That number in the Bay Area is insane for that particular matchup. I kind of dislike how well this thing has done since the prices were outrageous, but nobody hosts an event like the USA.
This is what slays me too. If I wanted to attend the 3 group stage matches for the team I wanted to follow, I'd have to consider a bank loan! Of course, the U.S. and Canada are two countries with large ex-pat communities from all four corners of the Earth, which probably doesn't hurt with the travel logistics and enthusiasm levels.