y que chingue su madre el America!
LigaMX fans unite lol
Quote: From a spectator attendance prospective across all levels soccer blows away hockey
Not for pro soccer in the USA outside of the World Cup.
MLS drew just over 11 million spectators last full season.
NHL drew over 23 million. MORE THAN TWICE the total attendance.
And for “all levels,” consider this.
When you compare D1 college hockey attendance vs D1 college soccer attendance, the gap is even wider.
I’m guessing the AHL (the next hockey level down from NHL in the USA) would also blow away any pro soccer league just under the MLS in the USA for attendance as well.
Again…NOT CLOSE.
So based on that…that is to say…based on YOUR OWN criteria.
Soccer is #5 in America as a spectator and TV sport and behind ice hockey. PERIOD. FULL STOP.
Now then, to be completely fair, MLS matches do get slightly higher average attendance simply because they play in larger outdoor venues.
But NHL plays far more matches each year and would also lead in venue capacity percentage. So based on that, I REJECT your assertion.
im sure LigaMX has more viewers than MLS…same with Premier League and Champions League
But undoubtedly fewer than the NHL, especially when one considers the Stanley Cup Playoffs and Finals.
So you’re just gonna ignore that Club America has more US viewers during the regular season than NHL playoff games between two Canadian teams get?
Yes, because come playoff time, the NHL blows away ANY pro soccer league, foreign or domestic, in the USA.
AI agrees with me:
I posted this question: Does any professional soccer league in the USA exceed the NHL in TV ratings?
Here was the answer:
No. No professional soccer league in the USA exceeds the National Hockey League (NHL) in television ratings. [1, 2, 3]
While leagues like Major League Soccer (MLS) have strong match attendance and streaming audiences through Apple TV, their linear TV ratings on networks like Fox generally draw averages of a few hundred thousand viewers. In comparison, the NHL’s national broadcasts on ESPN and TNT, as well as their playoff viewership, attract larger national television audiences. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
If you’re interested, let me know:
- Specific viewership numbers for both leagues
- How playoff ratings compare
- The impact of international soccer viewership on US television
So I followed it up with the following question:
What about Club America?
Club América regularly outperforms individual regular-season NHL games on US television, but they do not match the NHL’s peak playoff viewership. [1]
As the crown jewel of Liga MX—which is the most-watched club soccer league in the United States regardless of language—Club América pulls in massive audiences. [1]
Regular Season Dominance
- Club América Numbers: Marquee matches for Club América, especially the Clásico Nacional against Chivas, frequently average 1 million to 1.5 million viewers on Spanish-language networks like Univision and TUDN. Even standard regular-season matches consistently draw between 600,000 and 900,000 viewers.
- NHL Numbers: By contrast, a typical regular-season NHL game on ESPN or TNT averages around 400,000 to 500,000 viewers. [1, 2]
The Postseason Catch
While Club América wins the week-to-week regular season battle, the NHL scales up significantly during the postseason. The Stanley Cup Finals regularly pull in 3 million to 5 million viewers per game, a peak baseline that Liga MX playoff broadcasts do not consistently maintain across an entire multi-week stretch in the US market.
If you want to look closer at the numbers, let me know if you would like to:
- Compare Club América’s ratings directly against Premier League teams like Manchester United in the US.
- See the exact US viewership breakdown for the Liga MX Liguilla (playoffs).
- Check how streaming viewership plays into these television metrics.
You may not realize just how many MILLIONS of people per game tune in to the NHL playoffs.
And in terms of ATTENDANCE…outside the World Cup…it ain’t close.
Major (NHL) Minor (AHL), and even D1 college hockey all blow away their colleagues in soccer in the USA when it comes to spectators.
So this weekend - including all levels - will there be more people attending soccer matches or hockey games. Will there be more people playing soccer or hockey?
Uhhhh…
Hockey isn’t in season and isn’t playing this weekend.
Meanwhile, the World Cup is going on.
So that’s a dumb question, the answer to which proves nothing, much less anything about the issue at hand.
The issue at hand is: which sport, soccer or ice hockey, is more popular in the USA in terms of TV ratings and attendance, year in and year out, annually?
And the answer to that is: ICE HOCKEY. And here’s why:
Excluding the World Cup…which has only been held in the USA twice ever, and usually isn’t…hockey regularly draws way more attendance AT EVERY LEVEL (NHL v. MLS, AHL vs USL, D1 college hockey vs D1 college) than soccer does on an annual basis by a wide margin.
PERIOD.
FULL STOP.
And when one considers TV ratings, the NHL beats the MLS, and every other pro league once the NHL playoffs are taken into account.
So given that, DON’T try to claim that soccer is more popular. Based on those numbers, the OPPOSITE is true.
Soccer is #5 in team sport popularity, under those criteria, is less popular than ice hockey in terms of attendance and TV ratings, and that isn’t likely to change.
I can tell you this much.
Houston getting an NHL franchise, if it happens, will get way more media attention than any city getting an MLS franchise.
That should give you an idea as to which sport is a bigger spectator sport in the USA.
Wrong.
The issue at hand is: which sport, soccer or ice hockey, is more popular
PERIOD.
FULL STOP.
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And based on annual TV ratings and attendance, the answer is: HOCKEY!!!
If you’re talking about the USA.
Globally, it would be soccer. But that’s not the issue. No one disputes that. That’s not an issue before this court.
The issue before this court is: which is more popular in the USA?
And based on annual TV ratings and attendance, it’s ice hockey.
PERIOD.
FULL STOP.
How are you measuring attendance? Are you including high school? Kids leagues? IF not why not? Wouldn’t those be indicators of popularity?
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I’m talking top USA pro league head to head (NHL v MLS); next level pro league down head to head (AHL v. USL), and major college head to head (D1 men’s hockey v. D1 men’s soccer).
Those are leagues that people PAY to watch in person.
And at all three levels, ice hockey blows away soccer in the USA in terms of attendance.
No one cares about high school or kids leagues that the casual fan doesn’t generally pay to watch. Not sure why you’re bringing that up. It isn’t relevant to the discussion.
The issue here is TV ratings and attendance. Ice hockey beats soccer in the USA in both on a regular basis.
And that’s why hockey is #4 and soccer is #5 in the USA in those areas.
Hell, there may be more kids playing soccer than baseball or football.
Guess what?
That doesn’t make soccer more popular as a spectator or TV sport than baseball or football in the USA. FAR FROM IT.
Same for ice hockey.
Here’s some AI slop for you:
Soccer is currently more popular than ice hockey in the United States, having overtaken it to become the fourth most popular sport.
Recent data indicates a clear shift in fan preference:
- According to a Q4 2024 survey by The Economist using Ampere Analysis data, 10% of Americans identify soccer as their favorite sport, compared to 9% for baseball and 4% for ice hockey.
- This marks a significant rise from earlier surveys, such as one in late 2021 where 49% of sports fans said they liked watching soccer on TV, versus 37% for ice hockey.
- Ice hockey has historically been the fourth most popular sport, but soccer’s growth is driven by the expansion of Major League Soccer (MLS) , increased youth participation, and the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by the U.S.
The overall popularity ranking for U.S. sports is:
- American Football (36%)
- Basketball (17%)
- Soccer (10%)
- Baseball (9%)
- Ice Hockey (4%)
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More people in the USA may claim soccer as as their favorite sport that hockey, if asked.
So what?
That’s not the issue either. The issue is: which is a more popular spectator and TV sport in the USA?
And the way you determine that is by asking:
Which sport in the USA do more people tune in to watch, and which sport to more people pay to watch in person on a regular basis?
And the answer, based on the ratings and attendance is: ICE HOCKEY.
Soccer remains BEHIND ice hockey and at best #5 in the USA in those regards.
Sorry. It is what it is. And it isn’t changing anytime soon.
One day when soccer regularly gets better attendance and TV ratings than hockey, we’ll reassess its
Hasn’t happened yet.
May I ask why you keep trying to introduce these little “red herrings” into the conversation to try and confuse the issue, as you just did?
Can’t you simply accept the fact that, based on attendance and TV ratings, ice hockey is more popular than soccer as a spectator and TV sport in the USA?
I’m sorry if you can’t accept the fact that ice hockey is a bigger TV and spectator sport in the USA and gets better TV ratings and attendance on a regular basis in the USA than soccer.
But unfortunately for you, that is a fact.
That’s the problem. Facts are stubborn things. They don’t change simply because you don’t want to believe them.
Those poll numbers you posted don’t change those facts simply because those poll numbers haven’t translated into higher TV ratings or attendance for soccer over hockey.
Your comparison shifts up soccer leagues a level to make hockey look better. Globally, the NHL is the undisputed top league with all of the talent worth having. MLS is, despite the name, closer to the AHL. It’s the third-most watched league in the US, despite being our top domestic league. What kind of numbers is the third-most watched hockey league in the US putting up?
NHL viewership benefits massively from local-market viewership, which the leagues that Americans actually watch — the Premier League and Liga MX — don’t have anywhere in the US. Nobody outside of NHL markets watches the sport, even in the playoffs. That’s why the Leafs-Sens series last year is so informative; it shows that even a playoff series featuring maybe the most iconic team in the sport can’t beat the top foreign soccer teams in US viewership.
Acknowledged. No one disputes that either.
But consider this: local market viewership MATTERS.
It’s an indication of which products in a given market are most in demand for eyeballs and tickets.
And in US markets, ice hockey generally has the edge over soccer both on TV and in the stands.
I guess a question asking popularity doesn’t really answer the question on popularity. Sure 
The popularity we are referring to here is popularity as a spectator and TV sport. That was the discussion from the beginning.
NOT which sport more kids are playing…or which sport people on the streets claim to like the most.
Again, those aren’t the issues being litigated.
The issue here is what I said on the top line of this post.
And ice hockey wins on the most obvious measures: TV ratings and attendance on a regular basis.