U.S.-Paraguay Match Drew 27.5 Million Viewers. FIFA's President Flew a Private Jet to Watch Two Games a Day.

Since the tournament kicked off in Mexico City on June 11, the 2026 FIFA World Cup has produced viewer numbers that nobody in American sports media expected at this scale.

The Ratings

Team USA's Group D opener against Paraguay on June 12 drew 27.5 million viewers across Fox and Fox Deportes, according to Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal. That figure revised upward from an initial announcement of 24.886 million.

For context: 27.5 million beats the previous combined U.S. viewership record of roughly 26.7 million for both the 2022 and 2014 World Cup finals, per Karp. Breitbart, citing Karp's analysis, notes it's also comparable to Netflix's top Christmas Day NFL game last year and slightly better than Fox's Game 7 for the Dodgers-Yankees World Series.

Broader tournament numbers back the trend. Through the first weekend, World Cup games on Fox, FS1, and Tubi averaged 6.7 million viewers, up 152% from the group-stage average four years ago, according to Sports Business Journal. Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo averaged 7.5 million viewers through the first 12 games, representing 53% of the total U.S. World Cup audience.

The Atlantic's photo coverage, published across the first week, captures what those numbers look like on the ground: Mexico fans packed the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for a watch party on June 11, Netherlands supporters rolled a double-decker bus to Dallas Stadium on June 14, and Scottish fans marched to Fenway Park the morning after Scotland defeated Haiti in Boston.

The Infantino Problem

While the fans are generating goodwill, FIFA president Gianni Infantino is generating a different kind of headline.

Both the Guardian and the New York Times have reported that Infantino is using a private jet, identified by the Guardian as an aircraft provided by Qatar Airways, a tournament sponsor, to attend as many matches as possible. The reported itinerary: Mexico City for the opening game on June 12, then Guadalajara the same day for South Korea vs. Czechia, then Los Angeles on June 12 for USA-Paraguay, then San Francisco and Vancouver on June 14 for Qatar-Switzerland and Australia-Turkey.

FIFA confirmed the travel to the New York Times. A spokesperson's statement said the organization has "rules which establish the framework for flights and travel by any FIFA official" and that travel is sometimes commercial, sometimes charter, "depending on which is more efficient and cost-effective under the circumstances. FIFA pays travel costs."

Running a 48-team tournament spread across three countries and 16 host cities is genuinely unlike anything FIFA has managed before. Coordinating an organization of that scale while maintaining a visible presence at matches is a real operational challenge, and commercial flights between, say, Guadalajara and Vancouver on the same day may simply not exist on the required schedule.

The optics remain difficult. Multiple environmental groups and climate scientists have warned this could be the most polluting sporting event in history, according to Breitbart's reporting on the criticism. The tournament's expansion from 32 to 48 teams means more matches, more traveling squads, more fans flying intercontinental routes. The geographic footprint of North America dwarfs Qatar's compact 2022 setup. The head of the organization overseeing that expansion is responding by logging more private jet hours, not fewer.

FIFA has NOT released a carbon accounting for the tournament as of June 17, and no independent emissions audit of Infantino's travel specifically has been published in these sources.

What Comes Next

Team USA's second group-stage match against Australia is still ahead. Based on the Paraguay numbers, Breitbart's analysis suggests an even larger audience is possible, since the Paraguay game was played against a lower-profile opponent, and USA-Australia carries more historical resonance for casual American sports fans.

The unresolved question sitting underneath all of this is whether FIFA will publish any verifiable emissions data before the knockout rounds begin. Environmental organizations are making specific claims about pollution levels; FIFA has made specific claims about cost-effectiveness. Neither side has put numbers on the table that can be independently checked. Until they do, the debate is a loud one with no scoreboard.