If you’re a longtime, diehard fan of European soccer living in the United States, the following scenarios are likely familiar:
- Battling a legion of pop-ups and viruses on illegal, ad-cluttered video streaming websites while trying to access an untelevised match.
- Fits of rage and threats to destroy your computer as the stream freezes in the 86th minute, with the match tied 1-1, just when a corner kick is suspended in air above the six yard box.
- Spending hours on Google, and talking to bar managers on the phone, researching which sports bar in town has satellite feeds for that obscure cup matches.
- Watching a disgruntled bartender surf through page after page on the DirectTV guide in search of this mythical thing, which his customer claims exists, called beIN Sports.
For years, European football has been, at best, an afterthought in the American sports market. Even In the 1990’s, the last decade when the United States hosted a World Cup, that event was often casually viewed as, well it. Much like the Olympics, many American sports fans—the demographic who religiously watch the NFL, NBA, MLB and, maybe, NHL—viewed soccer as something that came across their radar once every few years, and always on the international level, only to fall away when the ‘real sports’ came back on. Much like Halley’s Comet, it was a special occasion, but brief—and easily forgotten.
No longer.
For the past two years, Americans have shown up in droves to support their National Teams, both Men’s and Women’s, in the World Cup. Packing sports bars and public plazas across the country, the 2014 World Cup saw a new record for American viewership during the U.S. vs. Portugal match as 18.7 million people tuned in. That record, however, stood only just over a year, as the 2015 Women’s World Cup Final in Vancouver notched 25.4 million viewers. By comparison, the 2015 NBA Finals averaged 19.94 million viewers per game, which were the best figures since Michael Jordan won his last title in 1998, but still more than five million fewer viewers than watched the US Women’s National Team hoist the World Cup.
For Club and Country
These numbers are for the US National Teams, meaning the Halley’s Comet syndrome— combined with some nationalistic pride—still applies. But if we look to club football, particularly the English Premier League, things are up as well—way, way up. In the 2014-2015 season, NBC reported an average 479,000 viewers per match. While this is far below the record-setting figures of the World Cup, it should be remembered that this average includes matches like Crystal Palace v. Stoke City, not just big ticket pairings like Arsenal v. Chelsea or Manchester City v. Manchester United. And more importantly than the raw figures, this viewership represents a drastic increase over previous seasons: compared to the 2012-2013 campaign (the last time the EPL’s US coverage was divided between ESPN and Fox, rather than all covered by NBC), the 2014-2015 figures are up a whopping 118%.
NBC, as you might expect, has taken note. Their three year deal with the Premier League had been set to expire after the current 2015-2016 season. Until last week, that is. Paying upwards of $1 billion for the television rights, NBC is now set to retain coverage of the Premier League for the next six seasons, meaning American fans, of any club—from Liverpool to West Bromwich Albion—can watch every single league match.
And in 2015, for the first time, the top-flight German league, the Bundesliga, will have extensive television coverage as well. Having been beat out by NBC for the Premier League rights, Fox nonetheless nabbed themselves a share of major European soccer this summer by securing the rights to the Bundesliga for Fox, Fox Sports 1, and Fox Sports 2. With more than one hundred games already slated for television broadcast, fans of ‘Deutscher Fußball’ can rest assured that, if they fork over a bit more cash, they can access every Bundesliga match from Bayern Munich to Hertha Berlin online at Fox Soccer 2 Go.
An Across the Sea Change?
For American fans of the English Premier League and Bundesliga, the increased viewership and consequent increased coverage is obviously a good thing. More supporters of European football means better atmosphere in sports bars, more conversations on the street. The boon of better television coverage speaks for itself; for dedicated fans, no one wants to miss a match, even against bottom-of-the-table clubs. But how does the American increase in viewership stack up against the EPL in the UK?
In short, not very high. In terms of raw viewership, the numbers aren’t terribly distant, though the UK is still way out in front. The USA’s 479,000 average figures are hardly close to the number of Brits who tune in, which topped out last season at 3.1 million for a single match. However, it is not in raw viewership numbers, but rather in dollars and pounds that the true difference is measured.
Despite the increase in revenue, the North American market still makes up a paltry 3% of the Premier League’s overall global revenue. What’s more, the new increased deal from NBC might seem like a lot of money, but really, when held in comparison, it’s not. BT Sport and Sky Sports combined to pay $2.7 billion per year for the Premier League rights from 2016 – 2019. If it is true that NBC paid the estimated $1 billion for the next six seasons of Premier League football, then the EPL’s American broadcaster will have paid less for half a decade of Premier League coverage than the UK broadcasters pay for half a season.
Despite the growth in interest and the increased cash from NBC, for the Premier League at least, the money, and the market, remain in the UK. The USA, however, has one thing that England does not: massive potential for growth. Compare the English Premier League’s domestic numbers to those of the NFL, and that growth potential comes into sharp relief. 2014 – 2015’s most watched match was Chelsea vs. Manchester United, which drew 3.1 million viewers in the UK. By contrast, the number of people who tuned in on November 20, 2014 to watch the Green Bay Packers defeat the New England Patriots was significantly more—nearly ten times more, in fact, at 30.88 million.
Premier League clubs play more than twice as many games as NFL teams, but with ratings reaching up to ten times the EPL’s rate, for the NFL’s TV revenue, the market’s size more than makes up for the limited supply of its product. The English Premier League will probably never outstrip the NFL in American viewership. Still, with a market that is growing rapidly, at a rate of more than 100% over the course of two years, and has a ceiling more than ten times higher than the UK’s domestic audience, we can expect to see only further improvements in the American coverage of global football.