MLS teams draw huge domestic TV audience for Leagues Cup

Games in US-Mexico competition had more television viewers than the Premier League and Champions League in 2023.

William GittinsWillGittUpdate: Jun 11th, 2024 10:13 EDT0

Vasha HuntUSA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con

The 2023 edition of the Leagues Cup, the third in the competition’s brief history, was a truly historic event. For the first time every single MLS and Liga MX team was involved and the field grew from eight to 47 teams, a month-long competition pitting the two national leagues against one another.

It will also go down as the competition in which Lionel Messi made his Inter Miami debut, leading his new team on an incredible run to their first piece of silverware. The revamped tournament caught the nation’s attention and the linear television viewing ps were truly extraordinary.

Average TV Viewership 📺🇺🇸2023 (USA) & 2023-24 (EU/MX) seasons:643k 🌎 Leagues Cup (UNI+FS1)565k 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Premier League (NBC/USA+TEL)522k 🇪🇺 Champions League (UNI+CBS)425k 🇲🇽 LIGA MX (Ap+Cl) (UNI+TEL+…)213k 🇺🇸 MLS (RS+Playoffs) (FOX/FS1+D)130k 🌎 Concachampions (TUDN+FS1) pic.twitter.com/rZqt98dTLB

— Jaime Ojeda (@jaimeor96) June 10, 2024

Last year’s Leagues Cup drew a greater average US television audience than any other soccer competition, including the Premier League and Champions League. The ps are distorted somewhat by the various streaming options that are also available. But the Leagues Cup was also carried extensively on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass, so that too suffered from a fragmentated audience.

When does the 2024 Leagues Cup start?

After such a successful inaugural season in its new format there is a real sense of anticipation ahead of the 2024 edition of the Leagues Cup. With 47 teams entering the competition the first round will consist of 15 groups of three teams, with two seeded teams advancing to the first knock-out round. Inter Miami may be the reigning champions but they did not receive a bye. Instead, Columbus Crew and Club América will skip the first round as the top-ranked teams from MLS and Liga MX, respectively.