With just weeks to go until the Euros kicks off in Germany, GameTime Digital CMO Alex Windsor discovers if the US has an appetite for summer soccer beyond the pre-season tournaments in baseball stadiums.
The ‘Euros’ is one of the world’s major international soccer tournaments. Taking place once every four years, it’s a highly prestigious event where fans want to see every second of the action. Altogether, 24 qualifying teams take part; starting with the group stage before progressing to the knockout rounds. Only one team can be crowned the winner — and US excitement levels are higher than ever heading into EURO 2024.
Set to be a huge success in the US
UEFA EURO 2024 is set to be a huge success in America, despite the US men’s team not taking part.
This follows on from EURO 2020, which scored big with American fans. Impressively, EURO 2020 smashed all previous records in the US, with viewership growing by 32% to reach a cumulative TV audience of 87 million (as reported by UEFA). The final between England and Italy had an average of 9.4 million viewers across ESPN, TUDN, and Univision, making it a bigger success than the NBA Finals of the same year, which only drew 5.9 million views. This took advertisers by surprise at the time, so now many of them are preparing for EURO 2024 to pull even more viewers than before.
The start of a new era for soccer
EURO 2024 will officially mark the start of a new era for soccer in the US.
Heading into this summer’s blockbuster tournament, hype, and interest levels are at an all-time high amongst Americans.
When EURO 2024 tickets originally went on sale, no other nation’s fans outside of Europe requested more tickets than the United States.
Specifically, there were 500,000 ticket applications between Australia, Canada, China, Mexico, and the United States, with America requesting the most.
The millions of other American soccer fans who can’t make it to Germany will, instead, be watching from home. For anyone living in the US, it’ll be possible to watch all of the EURO 2024 action on FOX, running from June 13 - July 12, 2024.
A huge trend to watch out for during EURO 2024 will be soccer betting. The legalisation of sports betting throughout 38 states in the US has made watching soccer an even more attractive prospect, with soccer currently sitting as the fifth most popular sport to bet on in the US.
When EURO 2024 tickets originally went on sale, no other nation’s fans outside of Europe requested more tickets than the United States
If you take a look at any of the US sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel, they have had odds up for quite a while whilst the anticipation builds. A lot of the sports picks sites in the US will also be covering a lot of the games, especially those where the more popular teams like England, France, and Spain will be involved. Our recently launched site, sharperz.com will be putting a big focus on covering games and we expect to see a lot of social media buzz and activity around the event too.
Right now, FanDuel has England down as the outright favourites to win EURO 2024, followed by France and the home nation Germany.
The growth in young Americans
Soccer’s growth in the US over the last few years has been nothing short of incredible.
83 million Americans now report having some level of interest in soccer, according to Sports Innovation Lab this growth is being driven by Gen Z and millennials.
We know that America has long-preferred football, basketball, and baseball over soccer, so why is it that so many young Americans are now shifting their attention to this traditionally European sport?
Ultimately, though, Inter Miami’s signing of Lionel Messi in 2023 has skyrocketed the MLS to scary new heights
One of the main reasons is the ‘Messi Effect’. Sure, the MLS has always been popular, with past big-name signings like David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic helping to improve its global exposure. Ultimately, though, Inter Miami’s signing of Lionel Messi in 2023 has skyrocketed the MLS to scary new heights.
The MLS Season Pass now has over two million subscribers, combined MLS game attendance reached 10.9 million in 2023, and MLS team sponsorship revenue has hit $587 million. And with EURO 2024 just around the corner, American sports bars and watch-a-longs will be jam-packed with people wearing Inter Miami’s pink jersey, which has now been made iconic by the Argentinian soccer icon.
Soccer has also grown in popularity throughout the US because of other factors, too, such as the global expansion of European sports leagues like the Premier League and La Liga. Within these leagues are superstars like Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappé, who have (unsurprisingly) caught the attention of American sports fans.
When you throw on top of the fact that soccer is officially the most talked about sport on X, it makes perfect sense why soccer fever has gripped the US and the MLS has become the third most popular American sports league by average attendance.
Challenges facing American fans
A glaring issue with EURO 2024 for American fans is the time difference.
With the tournament taking place in Germany, people living in America will have no choice but to stay up late and set early alarms if they want to watch the games. However, they also had to do this for EURO 2020, too — and viewership numbers were still incredibly high.
With the tournament taking place in Germany, people living in America will have no choice but to stay up late and set early alarms if they want to watch the games
Another problem is that the US men’s soccer team isn’t taking part in EURO 2024. As a result, some American soccer fans aren’t interested. The US has never taken part in any Euros tournament before though being primarily geo-locked, so most fans are already accustomed to this and won’t let it sway them from watching.
The World Cup 2026
The 2026 World Cup will be hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
11 of the 16 cities taking part are based in America, making it the main host country.
This will have an immeasurable impact on the future of soccer in the US. Millions of new Americans, young and old, will be introduced to the sport for the first time. And, of course, the US men’s team is also taking part, which will make for a summer that nobody will ever forget.
A turning point for the sport
The golden era of soccer in the US is here.
Messi-mania is in full flow, the MLS is thriving, EURO 2024 is around the corner, and the 2026 World Cup (hosted by the US) is just under two years away. As a fan, there’s a lot to be excited about and you can expect soccer to continuously keep growing in the US for decades to come.
EURO 2024 starts June 14th with Germany vs Scotland in Group A.
Alex Windsor
is the CMO of GameTime Digital, a multi-channel igaming affiliate with a primary focus on the regulated US sports betting and casino market. He has been involved in the industry for over 12 years.