July 9 – All three host nations exited the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the round of 16. And yet, across the United States, Canada and Mexico, the broadcast numbers have been nothing short of staggering. 

Start with the U.S. Men’s National Team’s (USMNT) 4-1 defeat to Belgium. Fuelled in part by the furore over Folarin Balogun’s overturned suspension, the game averaged 30 million U.S. viewers on Fox, peaking at 36.9 million, the most watched soccer telecast in the country’s history. That beats the 26.4 million from the round of 32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, and even eclipses this year’s NBA Finals. 

Here’s the scale of the shift. Before this tournament, the U.S. record sat at 15.38 million. All five of the USMNT’s games this summer beat it, becoming five of the eight most watched soccer broadcasts in American history. 

Spanish language coverage on Telemundo held its own too, drawing a cumulative 12 million for the Belgium game, a combined English and Spanish audience of 42 million, more than some early round NFL playoff games. 

North of the border, Bell Media recorded “record breaking” numbers for Canada’s 3-0 loss to Morocco: 5.4 million on average, peaking at 7.3 million, the most watched World Cup match in Canada ever outside a final. Bell claims 69% of the entire population has watched some coverage. 

And England’s 3-2 win over Mexico drew a preliminary 23.1 million on Telemundo, on track to be the most watched Spanish language soccer broadcast in U.S. history, plus 7.8 million on the BBC despite a UK kick-off time in the early hours. 

The hosts are gone; will the audiences follow when the quarter-final figures are released? 

Contact the writer of this story, Nick Webster, at [email protected]