Which one is the other football?

Hear me out: Soccer is like the QR code. For years, we were told - ‘this is the year of the QR code!’-and it never really took off until, well, suddenly it did. For the QR code, it took a global pandemic; for Soccer, it took a World Cup hosted in North America for the first time this century.

Americans reported watching the FIFA tournament at the same rate they watch the NBA. Two out of three of us¹ , to be exact. 

‘Yes,’ you say, ‘but look at American Football; it’s the only football that matters. It’s right at the top of your chart.”

Sure. But this data doesn’t show what is coming.  Changing American demographics are about to supercharge soccer.

American Football is as American as apple pie. Unless what it means to be American changes, that is. Sure, America is made up of bandwagon fans (fabulous campaign, Lays), but it's also made up of home-country fans. Just look at the correlation between when a family first comes to America and soccer viewership.²


The FIFA World Cup group stage averaged 5.05 million viewers on Fox Sports and 4.6 million on Telemundo and Peacock, meaning nearly one in every two World Cup viewers in the U.S. chose the Spanish-language broadcast.³

America has already changed; right now, as in today, America's kids are already what is called ‘majority-minority.’ That is because only 44% of Americans under 18 are non-Hispanic White, meaning that the 56% come from other racial and ethnic backgrounds.⁴ And by 2045, the entire U.S. population is projected to become ‘majority-minority,’ meaning that non-Hispanic White Americans will fall below 50% of the population.⁵ And that doesn’t even take into account the other big swing that is upon us. America may be 250 years old, but her population is young; 58% are under 45⁶, and they are glued to the game.⁷

And perhaps the best news of all for fans, broadcasters, and advertisers alike is that, for those viewers, American vs. European football is not a zero-sum (zero-goal?) game.And perhaps the best news of all for fans, broadcasters, and advertisers alike is that, for those viewers, American vs. European football is not a zero-sum (zero-goal?) game.⁸

Sources:

  1. Register’s Sports Survey, fielded July 2026 among 1,136 US adults

  2. Register’s Sports Survey, fielded 2026 among 1,136 US adults

  3. Sportsmediawatch.com

  4. The 2024 American Community Survey

  5. US Census

  6. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-u-s-population-by-generation/

  7. Register’s Sports Survey, fielded July 2026 among 1,136 US adults

  8. Register’s Sports Survey, fielded July 2026 among 1,136 US adults

lucy farey-jones