It Was the Most-Watched Soccer Game in US History

The US game against Belgium in the round of 16 at the World Cup set another record as the most-watched soccer telecast in US history, Fox said after preliminary ratings came out Tuesday. Fox said 30 million people watched the game, a 4-1 victory for Belgium on Monday in Seattle to move into the quarterfinals and eliminate the last of the tournament's three co-hosts. Fox said the audience peaked at more than 36.8 million people between 9:15 and 9:30pm Eastern, the AP reports.

That topped the previous mark, the US-Bosnia-Herzegovina game last week that Fox said was watched by 26.4 million. The soccer record is still a long way short of the most-watched Super Bowl, ESPN notes. Across Fox, Fox Deportes, Telemundo, and Tubi, an average of 127.7 million viewers watched the Philadelphia Eagles play the Kansas City Chiefs last year. Last month, the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs averaged 20.6 million viewers on ESPN and ABC, the most in almost 30 years.