Not surprising, but very interesting nonetheless
I read the news of the ratings for the Gold Cup final (hat tip to Chuck Pearson), and I have to admit that I'm pleased but not surprised. Soccer on Univision, and occasionally on the ESPN family as well, has achieved better ratings than NHL matches in the past. I would imagine that this occurs a lot more often now that the NHL is no longer on ESPN and is coming out of a very self-destructive lockout. USA vs. Mexico matches rate especially high - I don't have the stats in front of me, but I would not be surprised that at least two of those matches are among the highest-rated telecasts in Univision's history.
I also would not be surprised if the ratings measure Latino audiences only. You could end up with big ratings points, but translated to number of viewers is much smaller than the average audiences for mainstream cable TV. We have no way of knowing how many Anglos tuned into Univision just to watch the final (and there were some).
Nevertheless, I think the ratings will be interesting to some, and will give Univision a good feeling heading into the SuperLiga.
