If you live in Portland, you feel it - we are in the grip of World Cup Madness. It’s all anyone can talk about and it’s not just Portland that is watching the series on the edge of their couches/desk chairs/barstools, Americans are tuning in in record numbers. The World Cup has long been the most watched sporting event in the world and the U.S. is finally taking an interest too. Brad Adgate, the Senior VP/Director of Media Research at Horizon Media in Manhattan, did a short piece on NPR’s The World this afternoon and quoted some astounding statistics.
The median age of US “footie” fans is 37, significantly younger than the 52 years of Olympics viewers. Viewing fans are predominately male and most are watching on TV, either at home or in a public location. Saturday’s US/Ghana match was the most watched game with 19.4 million viewers! That’s higher than the average number of people who watched the NBA finales and more than the Worlds Series. Hungry for more viewing statistics? Check out the numbers that ESPN has listed; they include TV and multimedia data that is pretty impressive.
So where are you watching the game? At home or at a friends place? Your corner bar? Sunday, July 10 @ 11:30am PST is the time to make sure you are within viewing distance of a television if you want to see the match from start to finish. It’s likely that your favorite bar is showing the game and will have food and drink specials to entice you to come. And what better excuse to have a beer at 11:30 in the morning than the World Cup Finale?
If you feel like being part of a bigger crowd, The Oregon Sports Authority and the Portland Timbers are hosting a viewing event at Pioneer Courthouse Square which promises some extra surprises from our local soccer team.
