Friday, June 07, 2002
U.S. win over Portugal sets ESPN2 record for soccer rating
By RONALD BLUM
AP Sports Writer
SEOUL, South Korea — The United States' 3-2 upset of Portugal in the World Cup got the largest audience ever for a soccer game on ESPN2 despite its early morning start.
The Americans' win on Wednesday night, which began at 5 a.m. EDT, got a 1.19 rating and was watched in an average of 998,000 households, Nielsen Media Research said Thursday.
The previous high for ESPN2 was 834,000 households for France's victory over Italy in the semifinals of the 1998 World Cup.
Through 10 telecasts, ESPN2 is averaging 496,200 households, up from an average of 292,000 households for 23 games four years ago, when ESPN2 was received by far fewer homes. The first three telecasts on ESPN averaged 447,000 households, down from the 670,000 average for 27 games at the 1998 tournament in France.
Before the win by the United States, its biggest since a 1-0 defeat of England in 1950, Italy's 2-0 victory over Ecuador on Monday had attracted the most viewers, 582,000, a 0.7 rating. The least-watched game was Denmark's 2-1 win over Uruguay on Saturday, which got a 0.29 rating and was seen in 246,000 households.
Because of the time difference between the United States and Japan and South Korea, where the tournament is being played, games start at 1:30 a.m., 2:30 a.m., 3:30 a.m., 5 a.m., 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. EDT.
Four years ago, when the tournament was in France, games started mostly in the late morning and midafternoon EDT.
ESPN is received by 86.5 million homes, up from 74 million in 1998,and ESPN2 is received by 83.6 million, up from 57.7 million.
The rating is the percentage tuned to a broadcast among those homes that receive the cable network.
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U.S. win over Portugal sets ESPN2 record for soccer rating
