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U.S. World Cup Ratings Down 42% Without American Team

England celebrate their maiden World Cup penalty shoot-out victory.

England celebrate their maiden World Cup penalty shoot-out victory.

Photographer: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated on

Moscow (AP) -- The lack of a U.S. team caused a big viewership drop for World Cup telecasts.

The 48 group stage broadcasts on Fox and FS1 averaged 2,069,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. That is down 42 percent from the 3.54 million average on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC four years ago and down 15 percent from the 2,429,000 average on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC eight years ago.