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Ironically, it’ll be Canada that takes the field on the Fourth of July when it plays Morocco at 1pm ET, just days after the U.S. defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina on Canada Day. Mexico has a high-profile showdown with England on Sunday at 8pm. And the U.S. will look to exorcise demons when it faces Belgium on Monday at 8pm. All three will be on the Fox broadcast network and Telemundo, continuing what’s already been a notable run of ratings achievements, despite an initial hiccup with Telemundo’s figures. We’ll see if this puts any added pressure on DirecTV and Scripps to get a retransmission deal done. Scripps stations, including Fox affils in Grand Rapids, MI, and Salt Lake City, have been dark on DirecTV since May 31.

Fox Sports ended the group stage round averaging 5.05 million viewers across 72 matches on Fox, Fox Sports 1 and Tubi. That’s the highest group stage average on record in English-language U.S. TV history, also posting a substantial 92% improvement vs. the same point during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which took place from November to December instead of the normal summer run. On the Spanish-language side, Telemundo and Peacock’s average total audience delivery for the group stage was 4.6 million, up 122% from 2022. Linear accounted for 2.6 million while the digital average minute audience was 2 million.

Telemundo’s start to the tournament had a slight misstep when Nielsen had to revise and adjust audience metrics for matches between June 11 and June 15. The good news is all of the accomplished milestones remained intact, including the most-watched World Cup opening game in history regardless of language when Mexico faced South Africa to the tune of 10.1 million viewers (down from the 13.4 million originally reported).

It’s no surprise that the U.S. and Mexico are commanding this World Cup’s larger audiences (at least domestically). The U.S.’ three group-stage matches on Fox were the most-watched in English-language history, notching 18.04 million vs Paraguay, 17.02 million vs Turkey and 16.22 million vs Australia. Then on Thursday, Fox Sports said 24.43 million viewers watched the U.S.’ Round of 32 win over Bosnia, per Nielsen preliminary panel-only data. That’s the most-watched soccer telecast in English-language U.S. history, peaking with an audience of 31.88 million from 9:45-10pm ET.

It’s worth noting that Wednesday was the first time the U.S. men’s team played a World Cup knockout stage game live in primetime. It’s played a few previous ones in the afternoon and a couple in the morning—none as early as the 2002 duel between the U.S. and Mexico that began at 2:30am. Although the U.S.’ next game is at 8pm as well, if it wins out, all remaining matches would begin at 3pm.

Meanwhile, Telemundo’s broadcasts of Mexico’s games against South Korea (14 million), Czechia (12.3 million) and South Africa were the three most-watched group stage matches in Spanish-language media history. Viewership for Mexico’s 2-0 win over Ecuador on Tuesday has yet to be released.

Fox President, Insight and Analytics Michael Mulvihill noted on X that total reach through the end of the group stage was 94.3 million on Fox and FS1 and 37.9 million on Telemundo. He also drew a comparison to NBC’s coverage of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. “Through the group stage total viewing of the World Cup on FOX has surpassed total viewing of the Winter Olympics on NBC among Teens, 18-34s and 18-49s,” he wrote.

Also noteworthy is a Sports Business Journal report that revealed NBCU/Telemundo have begun early discussions about extending their World Cup media rights agreement. However, there may be more to it. Telemundo’s EVP, Sports/Head of Streaming Joaquín Duro told SBJ there could be a scenario where NBCU obtains both the U.S. English- and Spanish-language TV rights. Both sets of rights are up for grabs after the 2026 World Cup wraps up.

That’s why network executives will pay close attention to how Netflix performs as the U.S.’ rightsholder for the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cup tournaments. It’s the first sports competition Netflix acquired in full and includes the Spanish-language rights as well. Next summer’s 32-team tournament will take place in Brazil from June 24 to July 25, with Netflix set to stream 64 matches total.

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On Wednesday, Gray paid $40 million to American Spirit and commenced a limited local management agreement for the stations. The first payment was funded with a portion of the proceeds of a private placement of $70 million of aggregate principal amount of the company’s 7.250% Senior Secured First Lien Notes. Gray expects to use cash on hand to complete the second and final payment, which will follow regulatory approvals.

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