Forget New York, Chicago and Boston when it comes to soccer. Washington, D.C. is once again the nation’s capital.
With flags up and down Embassy Row waving in the breeze and fans filling the local pubs, this is soccer central.
Don’t think so? After the first week of the World Cup, ESPN/ABC and Univision ratings are more than twice as high as 2002 and D.C. soccer fans are watching the games at a record rate.
Saturday’s United States-Italy game was the second-highest rated sports show on Washington TV, beating out Major League Baseball, the U.S. Open and the Stanley Cup Finals. It won its time period and finished second to the U.S. Open for total sports viewers on Saturday.
On a national basis, the game averaged a 4.3 rating, making it highest-rated and most-viewed men’s World Cup broadcast on the network since the 1998 final in which France beat Brazil.
U.S. team back on the field
As for today, the huge United States-Ghana match can be seen on ESPN at 10 a.m. At the same time, Italy and the Czech Republic will square off on ESPN2. XM has the game in English on Channel 148 with WTOP’s Dave Johnson doing play-by-play. The Spanish broadcast is on XM 147.
ESPN 360 will have the live action on your computer. If you have firewall issues at work, your best bet is to go to a site with “game tracker.” FIFA’s official Web site is fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/. The ESPN and BBC sites will also keep you posted.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer.
