The viewership numbers are public now, and if you thought FIFA World Cup 2026 would break ratings records maybe you should have played that hunch on ADI Predicstreet, which paid an undisclosed sum to become the Official Prediction Market of the most-watched soccer tournament in history.
Bell Media reports that 6.4 million Canadians tuned in to the final match across all its platforms, an astonishing number in a country of roughly 37 million people. In the U.S., the English-language broadcast of Fox averaged a shade under 40 million viewers, while Telemundo’s coverage in Spanish brought in 22.6 million more.
All records, by a wide margin.
It all adds up to money. Earlier in the tournament, Fox reported that it would bring in a quarter billion dollars – and possibly turn a profit on World Cup 2026 – from advertising during hydration breaks alone.
Of course, this year’s event came with a distinct yet familiar list of pre-tournament concerns. In the past we fretted about venue readiness, or players melting down in Qatar’s sweltering heat. This year we had travel headaches and the prospect of ICE raids, hotel room scarcity and inflated ticket prices. All valid reasons to worry that the world’s biggest sports event could flop.
Nevertheless, we wound up with full stadiums in three countries, massive TV audiences around the world, and revenue figures ticking upward relentlessly, like the numbers on a gas pump display. And Canadians can still look forward to 2030, to see whether this year’s run to the round-of-16 represented the program’s foundation, or its peak.
So the numbers say the World Cup still has a tight grip on soccer hardcores and casual sports fans alike, and that’s wonderful news. Every refresh of the 24-hour news cycle highlights events and people and decisions that divide us, so World Cup 2026 served as a timely reminder that sport, under the right circumstances, can still bring us together.
CBC Sports’ Donnovan Bennett writes this essay on the chaos that was the 2026 World Cup, and how despite all its shortcomings, brought people together.
Cherish that feeling. Bring it with you in 2030, when the World Cup lands in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Whatever you loved about this tournament, hold onto it for as long as possible – because everything you hated about it is here to stay.
This year the field grew from 32 teams to 48. It might expand further in the future, but it’ll never shrink.
Hydration breaks?
Consider them a permanent fixture.
And presidential meddling?
A line crossed and a precedent set.
Why?
Again, consult the numbers. FIFA announced that it would gross $15 billion US from the 2026 tournament, exceeding its already outsized expectations. Meanwhile, cash-strapped legacy media outlets dispatched writers across the continent to cover matches in person, because the bump in website traffic justified the splurge.
A bad-faith interpretation of those facts will tell you that correlation equals causation, and you can’t really argue against it. The World Cup didn’t do numbers like this before hydration breaks and halftime shows, and the U.S. president prevailing on FIFA to help his team. And that dynamic is partially true, in ways we’ll explore later.
But a more realistic reading is the one that explains the enduring success of the World Cup and the Olympics even as everyday residents of host cities fume at the cost and inconvenience.
CBC’s Jonathon Gatehouse breaks down how Gianni Infantino doubled profits for the 2026 World Cup, and how much of that money ends up in the hands of organizations like Soccer Canada.
People buy tickets, tune in and engage despite the shenanigans, not because of them. Sports fans love the athletes and teams and story lines more than they hate U.S. president Donald Trump and FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, who both received loud and lusty boos as they stepped onto the pitch after Spain’s 1-0 win over Argentina on Sunday.
Add those two leaders to the list of drawbacks fans will tolerate for the sake of top-flight soccer and national pride. Pencil them in one spot below hydration breaks, which effectively turn World Cup soccer into a four-quarter sport more suitable to U.S. attention spans. Given how much ad revenue they generate for broadcasters (spoiler alert: it’s a ton), maybe they’ll grow to five minutes from their current three, or show up twice per half instead of once.
As for the number of teams in the tournament, FIFA is already discussing a 64-team field, so smart money says it’ll happen. More teams means more tickets to sell, and a built-in reason to squeeze more rights fees from broadcasters. It also means more underdogs, which means more engagement from avid and casual fans alike. Why stop at one Cape Verde-style Cinderella story when you can have seven or eight when the tournament field expands?
And because we – meaning sports fans and the media – struggle with denominators, an expanded field will serve up raw numbers that represent a plateau but look like progress. Most goals, ignoring the per-game rate. Most tickets sold, because we have more matches. Most knockout stage wins for a middle-of-the road program like team USA – possible because 48 teams might advance past the group stage. Right now the round of 16 looks like the USA’s unbreakable glass ceiling, but in a 64-team field you can portray it as a breakthrough.
It’s also more mileage on the players, but who, among decision-makers, is worried about them?
Not Trump, who has been squawking about bringing the World Cup back to the U.S. “immediately.”
Yes, the 2030 tournament is already slated for Spain/Portugal/Morocco, and no, we’ve never seen a change of hosts this late in the game. But before this year we’d also never seen a head of state phone FIFA to get a red card rescinded. Three weeks ago Trump leaned on Infantino to reinstate Folarin Balogun, a suspended U.S. striker, ahead of a knockout-stage match against Belgium.
The power-play worked and Balogun took the field in a match thick with political implications. I refused to turn it on, weary that Trump would crow about TV ratings afterward. If this match was going to do huge viewership numbers, it would have to happen without me.
And guess what.
It did giant ratings without me. Belgium’s 4-1 drubbing of a shell-shocked team USA was the most-watched soccer match in American history.
The main takeaway: drama sells, no matter the source of the subplot. Trump tinkering with starting lineups draws viewers just as effectively as a Lionel Messi-to-Lamine Yamal torch-passing does. Trump might have suspected it.
FIFA knew for sure. Are you watching because you love the game or because you hate the president and hydration breaks and dodgy VAR decisions?
Doesn’t matter, as long as you’re watching.
You did this year, and you will again in 2030.
The World Cup is over, but the conversation is just beginning.We react to the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final, and break down the latest CPL and NSL action. Plus, we welcome Canadian soccer legend and Canada men’s national team assistant coach Paul Stalteri to reflect on Canada’s historic World Cup journey and what it means for the future of the program.
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