The Premier League is in a great position to see its US audience grow. England’s top soccer league beat the NBA, NHL and MLS back to the field. That means sports-starved Americans are more likely than ever before to flip over to NBC Sports Network to watch a game.
Roger Bennett of the popular Men in Blazers podcast was on The Rich Eisen Show on Monday and said that those Americans may be more inclined to watch a Premier League match now that the biggest soccer star the US has to offer is back on the pitch. Christian Pulisic has been injured since the beginning of the year. The young American rejoined his Chelsea teammates on Sunday and made an immediate impact.
“What’s remarkable is he didn’t start and (he) came into the game when his team was one down…in the 55th minute. Within four minutes, he made a run to the far post, jabbed the ball home — his seventh (goal) of the season,” Bennett told Eisen. “From an American football perspective, he’s our lord and savior. From a world football perspective, he’s just another good player fighting for minutes.”
Bennett is right to point out that Pulisic’s star power doesn’t shine as brightly around the world as it does in the United States. Even domestically, there are plenty of sports fans that might recognize the name, but not know who exactly Christian Pulisic is. That undoubtedly has a lot to do with the US Men’s National Team failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
In addition to patriotism, Bennett expects Americans will follow Pulisic because there is something familiar about the way he plays soccer.
“When you watch him play, he plays a little bit like a point guard in the NBA. Just finding slivers of space, changing pace, incredible bursts of speed, and really hurt opponents.”
Certainly no one at NBC or the Premier League is going to bat their eyes at a little more star power, but it may be fair to wonder just how much Pulisic really matters. The lack of options has already made international soccer more popular with American gamblers than ever before, and in terms of popularity, Pulisic didn’t even crack the top 20 in a recent survey of Premier League fans. The Premiership’s real star power rests in Liverpool’s Mo Salah and Pulisic’s Chelsea teammate N’Golo Kante.
Still, NBC has multiple billions invested in the Premier League. The company owns Great Britain’s cable sports network Sky, so while some of those costs can be deferred, anything that brings more American eyeballs to NBCSN’s broadcasts and creates better numbers to show potential advertisers is likely welcome.
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