Leagues Cup sees year-on-year television audience dip

The 2024 Leagues Cup has reached the semi-final stage with both games set to be staged on Wednesday with Columbus Crew to face Philadelphia Union and LAFC taking on Colorado Rapids. As was the case for the 2023 inaugural edition, there will be an MLS champion after both surviving Liga MX teams (Mazatlan and Club America) were dumped out at the quarter final stage.

The 2024 Leagues Cup, however has seen a drop in audience in the US market and many experts point to the lack of Inter Miami’s Leo Messi being a factor. Last season, it was the Leagues Cup competition which showcased the Argentine’s arrival with the MLS side as he made his debut in the pink jersey against Cruz Azul in Florida bagging a sensational last minute winner for the Herons in the group stage.

According to data shared by World Soccer Talk and despite the fact that Apple TV keeps its audience ratings a secret, viewing figures for games shown on FS1 rank lower than those shown by this same channel a year ago.

In this Leagues Cup, the audience levels average 30,769 viewers, with the game between Philadelphia Union vs Cruz Azul having the highest number of viewers with 72,000 through FS1.

Last season Messi’s Inter Miami debut against Cruz Azul and the final against Nashville, both of which on American television, without counting the records of Apple TV, reached 1.7 and 1.4 million viewers respectively.