Copa America Victory Saturday Sets Mark for Most-Watched Men’s Soccer Match in FS1 History for Second Straight Game

The United States’ 1-0 win over Paraguay that clinched a spot in the quarterfinals of the 2016 COPA AMERICA CENTENARIO: THE CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE AMERICAS averaged 2.061 million viewers on FS1 Saturday, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That ranks as the most-watched men’s soccer match in the network’s history, the second consecutive Copa America match for the Americans that has set that record.
With viewership for U.S. games growing over each of the team’s three matches, Copa America has now produced three of the top four men’s soccer ratings in FS1 history.

The U.S. opened the tournament on June 3 with a 2-0 loss to world No. 3 ranked Colombia (1.536 million viewers), before rebounding to beat Costa Rica 4-0 on June 7 (1.6 million viewers, an FS1 record at the time).

Coming into the tournament, the previous FS1 record for men’s soccer was the 2015 CONCACAF CUP (1.561 million viewers), the one-match winner-take-all playoff between arch rivals Mexico and the United States for a coveted spot in the FIFA 2017 Confederations Cup, the prolific World Cup warm-up tournament FOX Sports will air next summer from Russia.

Several other metrics for the month-long COPA AMERICA, the biggest men’s tournament held on U.S. soil since the 1994 World Cup, are either setting records or seeing massive boosts over previous soccer competitions.

The U.S.-Paraguay viewership marked a 99% bump over the average for the U.S. group stage matches in last summer’s prestigious CONCACAF Gold Cup (1.036 million average), also held in America.

The U.S.-Paraguay viewership also marked a full 363% rise over the average to date of U.S. Men’s National Team friendlies on FS1 (445,000 viewers).

Next up for the streaking United States is a quarterfinal match, set for Thursday, June 16, against an opponent to be determined Sunday. Coverage begins at 8:30 PM ET live on FS1.

The tournament continues Sunday with a doubleheader that will determine the Americans’ quarterfinal opponent, which will either be Brazil, Ecuador or Peru. A full broadcast schedule can be found here.

FOX Sports televises all 32 matches of what is the biggest, most prestigious men’s soccer tournament hosted on American soil since the 1994 FIFA World Cup, live from 10 nationwide venues from June 3 to June 26. FS1 is scheduled to carry 21 matches, with four airing on the FOX broadcast network. FX, FOX’s widely distributed general entertainment channel, is slated to televise two quarterfinal matches and the Third Place match, with four group stage games appearing on FS2. Every contest is available on recently updated FOX Sports GO and FOX Soccer 2Go mobile apps and on desktop computers via FOXSportsGO.com.