re: USA-Portugal match draws more viewers than NBA Finals or World Series

I sort of like soccer (been to a few MLS games), but the truth is we watched because it's a four-year event.

Cross-posted from the Soccer Board:

quote:

---

Americans Love the World Cup—We Still Don't Care About Soccer

The United States' mostly inspired—and occasionally soul-crushing—group play in the World Cup this year has garnered record-breaking ratings. Our first match, a victory over Ghana, was the most-watched soccer game ever on ESPN. Official ratings for the second match, a brutal tie against Portugal, are still being processed, but they will certainly (and deservedly) be astronomical.

Does America finally love soccer?

No. Or, more specifically: No, there isn't yet much evidence that rapt TV audiences from the World Cup will keep watching soccer between quadrennial worldwide championships. Soccer isn't becoming America's new baseball. The World Cup is becoming America's new Summer Olympics.

...

In 2012, 32 million Americans watched Usain Bolt win the 100-meter race. It wasn't a reflection of racing's emergence as a major TV destination. It was a reflection that the Summer Olympics are a special glimpse of rare global talent that air when America's most popular sports, the NFL and NBA, are dormant.

The World Cup is essentially a single-sport Summer Olympics introducing tens of millions of viewers to a thrilling contest in a sport they typically don't care about. Unfortunately for America's soccer fans, the vast majority of yesterday's domestic viewers won't watch another soccer game between August and 2018.

---

More at The Atlantic...