Here’s What Every Sport Should Learn From the World Cup - Sports Illustrated

What the report says

Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina argues that recent World Cup television audiences in the United States should prompt major sports leagues to reconsider their assumptions about scheduling. Citing Fox and Telemundo viewership, the column says Sunday’s Spain-Argentina final drew 38.9 million viewers on Fox and 23.9 million on Telemundo. The semifinals, played at 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday and Wednesday, also delivered large audiences: France-Spain reached 13.1 million on Fox and 9.8 million on Telemundo, while Argentina-England drew 16.9 million on Fox and 11.4 million on Telemundo.

The key point of the Sports Illustrated piece is not that every regular-season event can match a World Cup, but that weekday afternoon windows may be more valuable than leagues have traditionally believed. Traina links the shift to changes in how fans watch sports, including streaming access on personal devices, more remote work since the pandemic and interest from bettors in daytime events.

The column says Major League Baseball should make better use of afternoon inventory, including airing at least one weekday day game regularly on MLB Network. It also notes that the NHL plans more than 20 Monday afternoon games this season, primarily to serve European audiences, and suggests the NBA should consider similar standalone daytime scheduling.

The broader significance is that prime time may no longer be the only viable window for major sports programming. Sports Illustrated frames the World Cup numbers as evidence that leagues and broadcasters can experiment with weekday afternoon games, especially when events are easy to find and do not compete with a crowded nighttime sports slate.