Fox Readies Biggest World Cup Production for 104 Matches — World Cup Group Stage
Fox Sports is set for its biggest world cup group stage production yet as the tournament starts Thursday with 104 matches across 16 North American cities. The expanded field means 48 nations will play over a five-week span, with two-thirds of all matches on the Fox broadcast network and every match available on Fox One.
Zac Kenworthy And Fox One
Zac Kenworthy said he and his colleagues are preparing “the biggest production Fox Sports has ever put on in our company’s history.” The Fox Sports VP Production added that Stage B will let the network “delve in deeper to the matches, to talk about the game in different ways, present the game in different ways.”
Fox has aired the World Cup since 2015, and this year’s schedule is much larger than the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar, which featured 32 nations and 64 matches. Fox averaged 3.6 million viewers for each of those 32 matches and drew a record 16.8 million viewers for Argentina’s win over France in the final.
Telemundo And Peacock
The race for viewers is not limited to one network. Telemundo averaged 2.6 million viewers in 2022 and has rights through 2030, while Joaquin Duro said the company will use games as lead-ins on linear television and streaming for this Cup.
Duro also pointed to Peacock’s “next play” feature, another option for viewers who want to move quickly from one match to the next. Fox, meanwhile, is spreading the load across its broadcast network, FS1, Fox One and select live matches plus shoulder and Cup-themed programming on Tubi.
The scale is the real shift for viewers: North America hosts the World Cup for the first time since 1994, and Fox’s current rights deal ends after this tournament. For fans, that means the full 104-match slate is spread across several platforms, but every match is available in one place on Fox One.
North America 1994 Again
That combination of a bigger field, more cities and more outlets turns Thursday into more than a kickoff. It is the start of a five-week stretch built around 104 matches, and the audience that followed Fox in 2022 will now have a larger menu, with select games also landing on Tubi.
