FOX Sports ‘frustrated’ at ESPN as World Cup broadcast war threatens to spill over into NFL season

The FIFA World Cup is in full swing and the USMNT got its campaign underway with an emphatic win.

FOX Sports has been doing its best to share the news, but ESPN isn’t playing ball.

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Nearly 25 million tuned in across FOX, Telemundo, and Peacock to watch the Stars and Stripes thrash Paraguay 4-1 in their World Cup opener at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

ESPN has barely even paid lip service and the rights holder is reportedly angry at the supposed Worldwide Leader in Sports.

Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports suggests that “some Fox executives are frustrated” about the lack of coverage.

“We’re talking about a historic performance by Team USA,” said a source. “Where in the hell was ESPN?”

FOX took over World Cup hosting rights from ESPN in 2018.

It reportedly only paid $485 million for the full tournament, with $250 million immediately made back from the hydration breaks inserted into each half which have controversially allowed for extra in-game advertising.

FIFA maintains strict broadcast rules, which prevent ESPN from showing highlights until all of a day’s games have ended.

They are also limited to SportsCenter.

With the New York Knicks having secured the Larry O’Brien trophy and Las Vegas Golden Knights taking the Stanley Cup, there should be plenty of space for soccer, however.

MLB — which has been given a huge boost from rowdy Scottish soccer fans — and the College World Series are the only major rivals.

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Mike Greenberg vowed to cover the tournament on Tuesday morning’s edition of Get Up!.

“We’ll cover this every day for you here, because obviously this is a major international happening taking place on national soil,” he said.

ESPN has chosen to prioritise its portfolio and given WWE a major bump. We will leave the debate over whether that is a sport to others.

If the USMNT keeps winning, pressure will grow on TV execs to provide coverage.

Group games against Australia and Turkey on June 19 and 25 come before a potential run into the win-and-go-home knockout stages — effectively playoffs.

That could be hard to ignore.

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FOX Sports on collision course with NFL

FOX and ESPN’s rivalry could continue into the NFL season.

The latter now owns a 10 percent stake in the league, which is drawing scrutiny from Congress over its broadcast antitrust exemption

“Making this particular fight a little more intriguing is the fact that the NFL now owns 10 percent of ESPN, and that Fox has been consistently antagonizing the NFL through the American political process,” wrote NBC Sports’ Mike Florio.

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