USMNT's 2-0 win over Bosnia draws record 24.4 million viewers in World Cup last-32

The United States’ Round of 32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Wednesday drew an average of 24.

The audience peaked at 31.883 million during the match’s final window between 9.45pm and 10pm ET — a figure that nearly matched the 24.5 million average for the New York Knicks’ title-clinching NBA Finals Game 5 win over the San Antonio Spurs last month, and approached the 26 million who watched Game 7 of last fall’s World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Folarin Balogun and Malik Tillman scored the goals as the US sealed a 2-0 victory, their first World Cup knockout-stage win since a Round of 16 triumph in 2002. The 8pm ET prime-time kickoff on the East Coast, combined with the US co-hosting the tournament, is widely credited with driving the enormous audience.

Balogun will miss the next fixture after being sent off following a VAR review late in the Bosnia match. The US face Belgium on Monday in Seattle in the Round of 16.

The record viewership came despite a new poll suggesting that converting casual Americans into soccer fans remains a work in progress. While around six in ten US adults expect the World Cup to increase broader interest in the sport, only 24 percent say their own interest has grown. Among existing soccer fans the picture is more optimistic — roughly three-quarters expect a general rise in interest, and about half say the tournament has personally heightened their own enthusiasm, compared with just 17 percent of non-fans.

The US had entered the knockout stage in strong form, topping their group with convincing wins over Paraguay and Australia before a dead-rubber defeat to Turkey. Wednesday’s result against Bosnia extended that momentum and set up what promises to be another high-profile fixture against Belgium.