Local ratings are in for the United States men’s national soccer team’s World Cup match against Paraguay, and the cities most interested in the game may not be the ones you expect.
According to Michael Mulvihill, the President of Insights and Analytics at Fox Corporation, Kansas City had the highest English-language ratings for United States-Paraguay.
The #1 market for USA-Paraguay on FOX was KANSAS CITY at a 9.2 rating and 29 share.
The top five:
KC – 9.2
Boston – 8.6
San Diego – 7.3
Dallas – 7.3
St. Louis – 7.3— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) June 15, 2026
Kansas City recorded a 9.2 rating and a 29 share. A rating is the percentage of total households in a market that tuned into the game, while share is the percentage of households watching TV that were watching the game. So 9.2% of Kansas City households watched United States-Paraguay, and 29% of households watching TV in Kansas City were tuned into the match.
The story is slightly different when Spanish viewership is included. Combined English- and Spanish-language ratings show Los Angeles topping all markets with a 13.4 rating and a 42 share. For comparison, throughout the entire 2025 World Series (Los Angeles Dodgers-Toronto Blue Jays), Los Angeles averaged a 17.6 rating and a 53 share.
The #1 market for USA-Paraguay on FOX and Telemundo *combined* was LOS ANGELES with a 13.4 rating and a very impressive 42 share.
The top five:
LA – 13.4
Miami – 12.4
Houston – 9.6
Dallas – 9.4
KC – 9.4Los Angeles was also the #1 market for the Mexico match on FOX+TEL.
— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) June 15, 2026
The combined English + Spanish ratings generally highlight cities with large Hispanic populations (Los Angeles, Miami, and Houston are the top three). But the English-language ratings are far more interesting. Boston was No. 2 with an 8.6 rating, while San Diego, Dallas, and St. Louis tied at 7.3.
Fox also revealed final national and local ratings for the opening Mexico-South Africa match and the later South Korea-Czechia match. Mexico-South Africa officially averaged 7.19 million English-language viewers, while South Korea-Czechia averaged 3.07 million viewers.
Mexico-South Africa was up 150% from the Qatar-Ecuador opener in 2022, which averaged 2.89 million viewers on FS1.
Kansas City and San Diego continued to deliver strong local ratings for both matches. San Diego posted a 3.83 rating and 21 share for Mexico-South Africa and a 2.96 rating and 12 share for South Korea-Czechia, while Kansas City recorded a 3.43 rating and 18 share and a 2.72 rating and 10 share, respectively.
As soccer becomes increasingly mainstream in the United States, which cities truly embrace the sport will continue to be fascinating to watch.
About Manny Soloway
Manny Soloway is a Iowa based writer focusing on TV ratings. He is also the founder of the TV Media Blog substack.