Brock on sports · June 16th

Local ratings are in for the United States men’s national soccer team’s World Cup match against Paraguay, and the cities most interested in the game may not be the ones you expect. According to Michael Mulvihill, the President of Insights and Analytics at Fox Corporation, Kansas City had the highest English-language ratings for United States-Paraguay. The #1 market for USA-Paraguay on FOX was KANSAS CITY at a 9.2 rating and 29 share. The top five: KC – 9.2 Boston – 8.6 San Diego – 7.3 Dallas – 7.3 St. Louis – 7.3— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) June 15, 2026 Kansas City recorded a 9.2 rating and a 29 share. A rating is the percentage of total households in a market that tuned into the game, while share is the percentage of households watching TV that were watching the game. So 9.2% of Kansas City households watched United States-Paraguay, and 29% of households watching TV in Kansas City were tuned into the match. The story is slightly different when Spanish viewership is included. Combined English- and Spanish-language ratings show Los Angeles topping all markets with a 13.4 rating and a 42 share. For comparison, throughout the entire 2025 World Series (Los Angeles Dodgers-Toronto Blue Jays), Los Angeles averaged a 17.6 rating and a 53 share. The #1 market for USA-Paraguay on FOX and Telemundo *combined* was LOS ANGELES with a 13.4 rating and a very impressive 42 share. The top five: LA – 13.4 Miami – 12.4 Houston – 9.6 Dallas – 9.4 KC – 9.4Los Angeles was also the #1 market for the Mexico match on FOX+TEL. — Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) June 15, 2026 The combined English + Spanish ratings generally highlight cities with large Hispanic populations (Los Angeles, Miami, and Houston are the top three). But the English-language ratings are far more interesting. Boston was No. 2 with an 8.6 rating, while San Diego, Dallas, and St. Louis tied at 7.3. Fox also revealed final national and local ratings for the opening Mexico-South Africa match and the later South Korea-Czechia match. Mexico-South Africa officially averaged 7.19 million English-language viewers, while South Korea-Czechia averaged 3.07 million viewers. Mexico-South Africa was up 150% from the Qatar-Ecuador opener in 2022, which averaged 2.89 million viewers on FS1. Kansas City and San Diego continued to deliver strong local ratings for both matches. San Diego posted a 3.83 rating and 21 share for Mexico-South Africa and a 2.96 rating and 12 share for South Korea-Czechia, while Kansas City recorded a 3.43 rating and 18 share and a 2.72 rating and 10 share, respectively. As soccer becomes increasingly mainstream in the United States, which cities truly embrace the sport will continue to be fascinating to watch. The post Kansas City, Los Angeles top local ratings for early World Cup matches appeared first on Awful Announcing.

Eddie Andelman, the Boston radio pioneer who some call the “godfather of sports radio,” has died at age 89. The news was announced by Andelman’s three sons on Monday. “From humble roots in Dorchester, he went onto great success in business and broadcasting,” the brothers wrote. “Some call him the godfather of sports radio. He certainly changed and elevated the sports radio game.” Andelman created the sports talk program The Sports Huddle for Boston area radio station WBZ in 1969, which is often credited as the precursor for the familiar sports talk format prevalent today. The show moved to WEEI two years later, and then WHDH after that. Andelman returned to WEEI in 1991 during the station’s heyday. He was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcaster Hall of Fame in 2011 after a 42-year career in sports broadcasting. Per the Boston Globe, Andelman hosted more than 13,000 shows throughout his career. In addition to his contributions to sports radio, Andelman also helped create WWE’s King of the Ring in 1985. Dale Arnold, Andelman’s partner following his return to WEEI, called The Sports Huddle “groundbreaking,” telling the Globe on Monday, “Everyone was listening to their radios to hear what Eddie and those guys would say next.” Many paid tribute to Andelman on social media. Remembering Eddie Andelman: Jones, Keefe, and Billy Lanni Reflect on the Boston Radio Legend Following His Passing pic.twitter.com/IbrPmUF0aK — WEEI (@WEEI) June 15, 2026 It’s for the best I never met Eddie Andelman, on the theory you should never meet your heroes. He was one of three hosts of The Sports Huddle, on four hours every Sunday night, and it was a staple in my house as kid. They – especially Eddie – talked sports in a way nobody else… — Jerry Thornton (@jerrythornton) June 15, 2026 Eddie Andelman was a trailblazer and paved the way for many working in sports radio. If you grew up in the Boston area, the Sports Huddle was a staple on Sunday night radio. Eddie, Mark and Jim made you laugh and understood their audience better than most. — Jon Meterparel (@meatstweets) June 15, 2026 Eddie Andelman passed away today. He was one of the most influential people that I ever interacted with during my broadcasting career. He was genuine and brilliant. He taught me so many valuable lessons. God Bless him. My prayers go out to his family and friends. — Mark Packer (@MarkPacker) June 15, 2026 Condolences to the Andelman family on the passing of Boston radio icon Eddie Andelman. — Jerry Trupiano (@JerryTrupiano) June 15, 2026 The post Famed Boston sports radio host Eddie Andelman dies at 89 appeared first on Awful Announcing.

The media has landed on Victor Wembanyama’s villain arc as one of its top storylines coming off an incredible NBA Finals, but ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt is pushing back. Wembanyama not only skipped out on media, gave out cocky quotes and denied his Knicks opponents customary handshakes after the series, he also roughed up several opposing players and talked trash heavily throughout San Antonio’s playoff run. The young Spurs phenom certainly gave his detractors plenty of ammunition to put a target on his back heading into next NBA season. However, Van Pelt said Monday on his podcast that he believes the situation is not all that different from what many super young star athletes go through, and called the idea of Wembanyama as a villain “overstated.” “The list of things that this 22-year-old could have done better, it’s lengthy,” Van Pelt said. “There’s things that, in review, this 22-year-old can look back and say, ‘Where I can I get better?’ There’s things he could do that don’t draw the ire of people. The game will mature. He’s got to add more tricks to the bag.” The SportsCenter host also acknowledged that the rest of the media and fan community seeing Wembanyama that way is ultimately a good thing for interest in the league, fair to the French star or not. “For the league, not a bad thing at all to have a villain. To have a guy this talented, this young, that people are going to want to watch,” Van Pelt explained. “And if they’re going to root for him to fail, doesn’t hurt the league. Helps the league. I just believe it’s overstated. I believe this is a thoughtful, incredibly talented guy that will get better across the board. And I think we’re grading with a real sharp pencil and being harsher than is fair in turning this guy into the worst thing that ever happened.” While The Ringer’s David Jacoby said on a podcast that he hates “everything about” Wembanyama, and New Yorkers Jay Williams and Tiki Barber each ripped the Spurs star for his attitude and immaturity, plenty of young sports stars have gone through this before. Just ask Anthony Edwards, Ilia Malinin, Noah Lyles or any number of history’s best athletes. In this case, Van Pelt is putting his neck out for Wembanyama to remind fans that though his mistakes may have been high-profile and he will need to get better, he is not the first or and won’t be the last to face such an inflection point early in his career. The post Scott Van Pelt: Victor Wembanyama villain narrative is ‘overstated’ appeared first on Awful Announcing.

As the fifth day of World Cup competition draws to a close, Fox’s hydration break strategy has become abundantly clear. Despite reports of a “hybrid approach” that would supposedly see the network show the field and players during at least some hydration breaks, Fox has instead opted to go to full-screen advertisements during each and every mid-half stoppage throughout the World Cup. Expect that to remain consistent throughout the rest of this World Cup. Per the latest report from Sports Business Journal regarding the breaks in play, Fox’s current approach will “continue,” though a picture-and-picture break “could still happen” if producers decide in real-time that such an approach is necessary. So far, that hasn’t been the case. Even during the second-half hydration break of Monday’s thrilling match between Spain and Cabo Verde — with the small African nation 20 minutes away from accomplishing the unthinkable and Spain’s most important player, Lamine Yamal, preparing to be subbed on during the stoppage — Fox opted to cut to a full ad break. It’s difficult to imagine a situation more tailored for the elusive picture-in-picture break than that, but the network’s strategy remained the same as every other hydration break to that point. Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported Fox was selling 30-second ad spots during these hydration breaks at roughly $200,000 for early-round games, and around $750,000 for games featuring the U.S. Men’s National Team. With those figures, it’s quite easy to estimate how much Fox stands to make off of hydration break ads alone. We can conservatively say Fox is averaging a price of $300,000 for a 30-second spot, considering the low end of the reported range is for early games. Later in the tournament, one would expect the network to command rates towards the top end of that range, possibly more. Each hydration break is three minutes in length and allows for four 30-second ads based on FIFA’s advertising guidelines, which mandate a 20-second buffer on the front-end and a 30-second buffer on the back-end of each break. (Fox has been inconsistent at best in abiding by these guidelines, but FIFA has said it will not punish the network despite the breaches.) With room for four commercials per hydration break, that amounts to eight available spots per game. Across 104 World Cup matches, that’s 832 potential in-game commercials Fox can sell. Our conservative estimate of $300,000 per spot would rake in $249.6 million from just the commercials sold during hydration breaks for Fox. If that average climbed to $400,000, Fox’s total would climb to $332.8 million. You can see why Fox would be eager to sell this ad inventory, viewer preferences be damned. For context, Fox is paying a reported $485 million for broadcast rights to this World Cup. Revenue generated from hydration break ads will cover at least half of that fee, and potentially much more. Is that enough reason to justify the decision? Well, it probably depends on whether or not you’re a Fox shareholder. One can hardly blame a media company like Fox, which is facing the headwinds of cord-cutting and ever-increasing sports rights fees squeezing its bottom line, for taking advantage of a nine-figure revenue windfall. But the way the network has gone about it has been maximalist in every sense of the word. There’s a middle ground between selling 832 ads and selling no ads at all. However, Fox has thrown caution to the wind and is deciding to eke every possible penny out of this newfound ad inventory. That middle ground between 832 and zero is likely what fans anticipated after seeing reports of the “hybrid approach” prior to the tournament, but no such approach has materialized. Just like it’s hard to blame Fox for trying to make a buck, it’s hard to blame fans for complaining about how intrusive the ads are, particularly when a network like Telemundo has opted against airing any full-screen ads during hydration breaks. In any case, we’ll wait and see if Fox will ever decide to do anything besides a full-screen ad break during these stoppages in play, or if reports of such possibilities are overly optimistic. The post Fox likely making upwards of $250M on hydration break ads during World Cup appeared first on Awful Announcing.

President Donald Trump will reportedly be afforded the ability to lift the World Cup trophy on-stage with the victors during next month’s final at MetLife Stadium, according to a report by Ben Jacobs of the U.K. outlet talkSPORT. Many will recall, Trump lifted the trophy alongside Premier League side Chelsea after they won the FIFA Club World Cup last summer. Per Jacobs, “The US president has already been told FIFA wish him to hand over the World Cup trophy to the eventual champions.” Traditional FIFA protocol for the trophy ceremony is for the trophy to remain on a plinth until a member of the winning team brings it to the celebration podium. “Sources say FIFA will leave it to Trump’s own discretion as to whether he wishes to stay in with the team during the lift or remain with other executives during the ceremony,” Jacobs reports, adding that “White House insiders believe Trump will again choose to celebrate with the victorious team.” According to the report, “Both Mexican and Canadian officials will be invited to appear at the closing ceremony,” though it is unclear if they will be afforded the same access to the trophy as Trump. Trump has been a fixture at many of the biggest sporting events in the United States during his second term as president. Most recently, Trump appeared during Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden. The president has also appeared at the US Open men’s final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in 2025, and the College Football Playoff National Championship between Miami and Indiana earlier this year. Of course, he attended the UFC event held in his backyard over the weekend, too. Given his penchant for both sporting events and attention, it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise for Trump to involve himself in the ceremonial trophy lift, as he did during the Club World Cup. The post Donald Trump will reportedly be allowed to lift World Cup trophy with winning team appeared first on Awful Announcing.

Bryson DeChambeau finds himself in an unfamiliar position of not being among the immediate pre-tournament favourites at the US Open, having seen his major stock tumble during a turbulent start to the year.

Jude Bellingham or Morgan Rogers? Bukayo Saka or Noni Madueke? Anthony Gordon or Marcus Rashford? John Stones, Ezri Konsa or Marc Guehi? Sky Sports' News' Rob Dorsett analyses the big selection dilemmas facing Thomas Tuchel.

Assistant coach Hayden Foxe backs Socceroos to handle match hype Australia meet co-hosts on Friday after both won Group D openers Australia’s players are mature enough to handle the hype ahead of their high-profile World Cup match against co-hosts the United States and do not need staff to tell them to get off social media, assistant coach Hayden Foxe has said. The Socceroos meet the USA in Seattle on Friday, with both sides pumped up by home media and football pundits after winning their Group D openers against Turkey and Paraguay respectively. Continue reading...

Packed streets of Amman and Tashkent will be lively with Asia’s debutants determined they are not just here to make up the numbers Before eagerly awaited meetings with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo comes slightly less glamorous but hugely important first ever World Cup games for Asia’s debutants. Jordan take on Austria on Wednesday before meeting Algeria and Argentina, while Uzbekistan kick off against Colombia, then Portugal and DR Congo. Jordan v Austria has been used as an example of a game that will challenge Fifa’s dynamic pricing system but regardless of how full the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium is, the cafes in Amman’s Prince Muhammad Street and all around the country will be packed. They were a year ago, as fans watched Portugal beat Spain in the Uuefa Nations League final, just three days after the World Cup spot had been secured with the city still buzzing with the thought of Al-Nashama (The Chivalrous Ones) taking on the superstars of the world and … here they are. Continue reading...

Bobby Robson employed a head of human performance for the World Cup and, despite wariness, the players got on board The eve of Italia 90. Gazza’s tears, England’s heartache, and the cascading emotions of a World Cup that sang and ultimately stung still lie ahead. For now, the sports scientist tasked with acclimatising Bobby Robson’s side to the Italian summer is using cutting-edge technology to assess each player’s fitness: a BBC microcomputer, a dot-matrix printer, and a few clunky Polar heart-rate monitors. Some in the England setup initially regard Prof John Brewer, the Football Association’s first head of human performance, with suspicion. But after monitoring the squad with a bleep test at Lilleshall before they fly to Italy, again when they arrive, and for a third time after a fortnight’s training in the hottest part of the day, Brewer can prove to the players they have adapted to the heat, and can play their familiar high-tempo game. Continue reading...