U.S.-Mexico game shatters TV viewing records

By Paul Kennedy, Special to SI.com, Soccer America

Wednesday's U.S.-Mexico broadcast on Univision was seen by 10.7 million viewers, making it the most watched sporting event in the history of Spanish-language television.

The average audience of 5.9 million made it the most-watched sporting event for the season to date on Spanish-language television and the average audience of 1.2 million on ESPN2 made it the most-watched World Cup qualifier in history on that network.

Such was the game's draw that it was the most-watched program of the day among men 18 to 34 and men 18 to 49 in such major markets as Los Angeles, Miami, Houston and Dallas, beating out first-run English-language primetime shows such as Fox's American Idol, ABC's Lost, NBC's Law & Order and CBS' CSI: NY.

Additionally, ESPN Deportes' Futbol Picante, the network's Mexican soccer nightly news and information program, enjoyed its two most-watched telecasts ever -- the pre-game edition drew 192,000 Hispanic viewers and the postgame edition attracted 223,000 Hispanics viewers.