The FIFA World Cup is back on American soil for the first time in 32 years, and over the next six weeks, FOX Sports will either cement its place as the home of the world's biggest sporting event — or expose every crack in its operation. Here are three predictions for how it plays out.
Alexi Lalas becomes the tournament's defining voice
The World Cup only comes around every four years, which means casual viewers tend to forget what Alexi Lalas actually brings to a broadcast. They're about to be reminded.
He doesn't hedge. He doesn't reach for diplomatic non-answers when the camera is on him. He says what he thinks, courts the controversy, and understands that his job is as much performance as analysis. In a six-week tournament with 48 teams and 12 hours of daily action, that personality cuts through the noise.
The USMNT's run — or early exit — will define his tournament. A shock group-stage elimination turns Lalas into a lightning rod. A deep knockout run turns him into the face of American soccer euphoria. Either version makes for compelling television. The reactions will be everywhere.
The tech storyline will split opinion straight down the middle
This is the most technologically ambitious World Cup in the tournament's history. Sensor chips in match balls. AI-generated 3D player avatars. Automated offside calls. Robot dogs on security detail. Some of it will genuinely change how we watch football. Some of it will be quietly forgotten by the quarterfinals.
The one innovation worth watching closely: a stabilized camera mounted on the head of the lead referee. If FOX Sports gets full access to that feed, it could redefine how broadcast media covers officiating — every phantom dive, every missed call, every heated exchange between players and officials, all captured from the referee's own eyeline. That's not a gimmick. That's accountability in real time.
The tournament also debuts on FOX One, bringing 4K broadcasts, multi-view options, AI-powered personalization, and an "AskFOX" feature that lets viewers pull additional context mid-match. Some of those tools will land. Others will feel like solutions to problems nobody had.
Viewership records fall — and the debate about soccer in America ends with them
Despite one survey showing only 13% of respondents plan to watch, the audience numbers will almost certainly surpass any previous tournament on American soil. Context matters here: the 2022 Qatar World Cup averaged 4.7 million viewers per match in the United States and drew 25.8 million for the final. A tournament hosted across 16 North American cities, with a USMNT that could genuinely make a run, changes that calculus significantly.
A recent Seton Hall survey found that among adults aged 18-34, the FIFA World Cup trails only the NFL and NBA in popularity. MLS viewership is up 62% year over year through the first three months of the 2025 season. The NWSL keeps expanding. The infrastructure of American soccer fandom isn't being built — it's already built.
FOX Sports is also now operating with Nielsen's Big Data + Panel measurement system, installed last September, which captures viewing behavior far beyond traditional household ratings. The final numbers will reflect an audience that older metrics simply missed.
Soccer didn't grow in America because of this World Cup. This World Cup came to America because the sport had already grown. The next six weeks will just make that impossible to argue against.
