U.S.-Netherlands Women's World Cup Match Kicks Up Viewers: This Week in Sports Ratings

R. Thomas Umstead
·1 min read
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FIFA World Cup: USA Lindsey Horan (10) in action, dribbles the ball vs Netherlands during a Group E match at Wellington Regional Stadium.
FIFA World Cup: USA Lindsey Horan (10) in action, dribbles the ball vs Netherlands during a Group E match at Wellington Regional Stadium.

FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer action and auto-racing events highlighted last week's sports ratings landscape.

Fox’s July 26 coverage of the U.S. women’s soccer team’s draw against the Netherlands was the top viewed live sports event for the week of July 24-30 with an average of 6.43 million viewers, according to Nielsen numbers published by SportsMedia Watch. Telemundo’s Spanish-language telecast of the match also made the top 10 most-watched events for the week with 1.16 million viewers.

According to Fox Sports, Fox averaged a record 4.3 million viewers for its three U.S. Women’s soccer team telecasts during the Group Stage event, up 19 percent from 2019.

Auto racing events secured four of the top 10 positions on the live sports viewership chart, with USA Network's July 30 live race and pre-race coverage of the NASCAR Cup series Cook Out 400 playoff event finishing third and fourth for the week, while NBC’s July 29th NASCAR Xfinity Road America 180 race and ESPN’s July 30 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix pulled into sixth and ninth place, respectively. ESPN said the 1.16 million viewers for its Belgian Grand Prix telecast was the race's largest audience on record in the U.S.