By Amaury Pi Gonzalez
There is little doubt that when México was eliminated by Brazil’s Neymar who beat the “Tricolor” 2-0 on Monday on July 2nd, especially in the United States. Telemundo felt like a meteor falling on planet Earth. Sad for México who opened their World Cup participation with a win over the last champion, Germany. During their match against Brazil, México caused problem to Neymar’s squad very early, but at the end, the best team won. The coach for the Mexican team was totally frustrated and blamed the loss of México on the referees, which is as absurd of a statement I can remember during a World Cup.
Fox and FS1 also suffered from the very beginning of this tournament as the U.S. were not there. The 48 group stage telecast on Fox and FS1 averaged 2.069 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. This was down 42% from the 3.54 million average on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC four years ago. For U.S. audiences, that was already a bad start and now after México was eliminated, only a small portion of the real Fútbol aficionados are watching all the way to July 15th when a new champion will be crowned.
During the 1994 USA World Cup, Edson Arantes do Nascimiento, better known as Pelé, told me during an exclusive interview I did with him for Telemundo Network, “El fútbol será grande aqui en los Estados Unidos de America y será un gran deporte, seguido por todo el público una vez tengan una selección dentro de la Copa Mundial, que pueda luchar y llegar lejos.”
Translation: “Fútbol here in the United States of America will be a great sport and followed by the people once the U.S. had a good team inside the World Cup and a good team that can go far.”
From the very beginning, this 2018 Russia World Cup was a disadvantage to the television networks carrying this event here in the U.S. At the end, it proved to be a double whammy for a lack of audience. First, no U.S. representation, then on July 2nd, México was eliminated. Mexican-born residents are by far the largest audience on Spanish television here in the U.S. and the elimination of México was the biggest story for the ratings this year on Telemundo, who also owns the rights to Copa America.
Telemundo Deportes has acquired U.S. Spanish language rights for next year’s Copa America in Brazil. The Copa America 2019 is about the championship of South America, and will include invited guests Japan and Qatar and will be played from June 14th to July 7th. This year’s World Cup was the first time that Telemundo had the rights to all its games. Univisión usually dominated that production in the past. Telemundo is part of Comcast’s Corporation/NBC Universal Incorporated.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s play-by-play Spanish radio talent and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
