A Brief History of the World Cup and Soccer in US Broadcasting
The success of the 2014 FIFA World Cup TV broadcasts in the U.S. has been nothing short of staggering, with dozens of media outlets discussing the explosive growth in viewership. Some 26.5 million Americans watched the World Cup finals, while the USA-Portugal group match broke ESPN’s record for most-watched soccer game. However, despite the perception that Americans previously did not care much about soccer, the “beautiful game” has a long history in U.S. broadcasting. The game has had loyal adherents in this country starting from the first broadcasts in 1966. Those first broadcasts were of the World Cup, which has often received cursory coverage. NBC aired the England-West Germany final on same-day tape delay, but later broadcasts were often delayed by days instead. The ABC broadcast is credited, in part, with starting what would become a brief boom for soccer in the ‘70s, and the North American Soccer League was occasionally televised, although that league saw its greatest fame when noted foreign stars like Pelé came to play in the United States. However, things have changed today. FOX has begun broadcasting matches from the English Premier League alongside NFL matches in prime time, while the network recently paid huge sums for the rights to future World Cup broadcasts.