On an important soccer weekend, NBC drew good numbers from leagues both domestic and imported.
Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea drew 1.29 million viewers to the Peacock, ranking it as the most-watched Premier League match in the network’s 15-month history televising EPL games. It’s the second-most watched Premier League fixture ever in America, behind, United and Chelsea’s Super Bowl Sunday tussle in 2012 on Fox.
This is especially impressive when you consider the competition. Chelsea-United went up against live football from Wembley Stadium in London (Lions-Falcons on Fox) and live football from America later on at both CBS and Fox. That rivalry, despite United’s struggles and Chelsea’s domination of the EPL, still packs a huge ratings punch.
NBC is ending its partnership with MLS after this season, but they managed their best-ever numbers for the league this weekend as well. Galaxy-Sounders — featuring a must-win for the league’s Supporters Shield and Landon Donovan’s final regular season MLS match– drew 699,000 viewers. That’s the most-watched MLS game ever on NBC or NBCSN in the three years they’ve televised the league. The game outrated its EPL lead-in, Leicester City-Swansea City.
While far from the heights of the World Cup, networks are continuing to grow with soccer, both with the always popular Premier League and the still growing MLS.
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About Steve Lepore
Steve Lepore is a writer for Bloguin and a correspondent for SiriusXM NHL Network Radio.