The final of the North American Gold Cup continental soccer competition drew a record audience in its host country, the US, despite its national team falling to a 2-1 defeat by bitter rivals Mexico.
Played at the 72,220-capacity NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, the July 6 fixture drew an average TV audience of 3.73 million viewers on heavyweight pay-TV broadcaster Fox.
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This was up 239% on the 1.1 million average for the previous Gold Cup final in 2023 (which didn’t feature the US), and became the most-watched English-language US Gold Cup telecast in the tournament’s history.
The game peaked at 5.2 million viewers in its final stages after the US went behind, thanks to the eventual winner from midfielder Edson Alvarez.
The entire 2025 Gold Cup performed well across Fox’s suite of channels, which, alongside the primary Fox brand, also includes Fox Sports 1 and 2.
Those English language networks averaged 474,000 viewers per game across the 31 matches, up 21% on the 292,000 average across the 2023 edition, making it the most-watched Gold Cup in Fox history overall, although it was aided by the tracking of out-of-home viewership for the first time.
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By GlobalDataThe rivalry between the US and Mexican national sides has long been a major ticketing draw, evidenced by the 70,092 fans at NRG Stadium for the game. The fact that it has now also proven a strong TV draw is a good omen for broadcasters in the country, less than a year away from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be staged across the US, Mexico, and Canada, for which the US automatically qualifies.
Fox also holds the US broadcast rights for the 2026 tournament, so continued interest in the US and Mexican national teams will be vital if the brand is to secure tangible benefit from the reported $235 million in media rights it is paying global soccer governing body FIFA.
During the 2022 World Cup, which took place in Qatar, Fox secured record viewership for its coverage of four quarter-final fixtures, which was bettered still by its coverage of the showpiece final, which, despite the time difference, was viewed by 16.8 million people.
It is likely that the fervor of a home World Cup combined with the naturally more amenable viewership times will see the 2026 final even exceed this.
Spanish-language coverage in the US of the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be provided by NBCUniversal-owned Telemundo.
