U.S.-Netherlands Women's World Cup Match Kicks Up Viewers: This Week in Sports Ratings

FIFA World Cup: USA Lindsey Horan (10) in action, dribbles the ball vs Netherlands during a Group E match at Wellington Regional Stadium.
FIFA World Cup: USA Lindsey Horan (10) in action, dribbles the ball vs Netherlands during a Group E match at Wellington Regional Stadium. (Image credit: Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer action and auto-racing events highlighted last week's sports ratings landscape. 

Fox’s July 26 coverage of the U.S. women’s soccer team’s draw against the Netherlands was the top viewed live sports event for the week of July 24-30 with an average of 6.43 million viewers, according to Nielsen numbers published by SportsMedia Watch. Telemundo’s Spanish-language telecast of the match also made the top 10 most-watched events for the week with 1.16 million viewers.

According to Fox Sports, Fox averaged a record 4.3 million viewers for its three U.S. Women’s soccer team telecasts during the Group Stage event, up 19 percent from 2019. 

Auto racing events secured four of the top 10 positions on the live sports viewership chart, with USA Network's July 30 live race and pre-race coverage of the NASCAR Cup series Cook Out 400 playoff event finishing third and fourth for the week, while NBC’s July 29th NASCAR Xfinity Road America 180 race and ESPN’s July 30 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix pulled into sixth and ninth place, respectively. ESPN said the 1.16 million viewers for its Belgian Grand Prix telecast was the race's largest audience on record in the U.S. 

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Top-Rated Live Sports Events, July 24-July 30
DateEvent NetworkViewership
July 26 Women's World Cup (USA-Netherlands)Fox6.43 million
July 29Fox Saturday Baseball Fox 2.64 million
July 30NASCAR Cup Series USA Network 2.43 million
July 30NASCAR Cup Series (Pre-race)USA Network 1.86 million
July 30PGA 3M Open CBS1.66 million
July 29NASCAR Xfinity Road America 180NBC1.56 million
July 29PGA 3M Open CBS1.44 million
July 26ESPN Major League BaseballESPN1.20 million
July 30Formula 1 Belgian Grand PrixESPN1.16 million
July 26Women's World Cup (USA-Netherlands)Telemundo 1.16 million
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.