Let's give them a reason to watch

The US's 0-3 loss to the Czech Republic was the most-watched program on ESPN2 this year. Not bad for an afternoon game on a Monday. The question now though is, "Will these people come back to watch the team again on Saturday and then on next Thurday?"

With the game being on ABC it will be a lot more accessible to potential viewers. While most people who care about the USMNT already have cable, the casual fan who's interest is only peaked once every four years might also pop in to take a look just because they can.

My prediction is if the US can get a win against Italy or manage a tie and find themselves in a realistic scenario for advancement, expect the US-Ghana match on June 22nd to beat the 2.4 cable rating the Czech game got. If it goes the other way however, the opposite could happen.

Aside from the obvious good reasons to have such high ratings for soccer, a large dividend that might be realized could be done so by MLS. Soccer United Marketing (SUM) which is the marketing arm of MLS as well as other soccer ventures (which also happened to own the rights to the WC games and sold them to ABC), is currently in negotiations to seal a deal with the ABC family of networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2) for the first ever paying broadcast contract. To have the network pay MLS to show their games instead of MLS having to pay to get their games on the air, as has been the normal since the league's inception, would be a welcomed windfall for MLS. High ratings for the WC games can only help get this deal through quicker and with better terms.