The knockout stages of the 2024 Copa America tournament will continue throughout the weekend, including a pair of quarterfinal matches that will take place on Saturday. Unfortunately for Fox, however, none of them will include the United States Men’s National Team.
That’s because the USMNT failed to advance past the group stage of the tournament, following a 2-0 victory over Bolivia in its opener with a pair of defeats to Panama and Uruguay. The underwhelming showing has left head coach Gregg Berhalter’s future with the program in question — if not doubt — and proved perhaps equally disappointing for the television network hosting the event.
“They’re not little, they’re big moments,” Fox Sports’ Rob Stone said on The Bill Simmons Podcast following the USMNT’s elimination earlier this week. “You know, our programming department right now is head in hands, like, are you kidding me? What we could have done for you, like the promotion and the marketing that we at Fox has done for this national team. ‘The summer of stars.’ Christian Pulisic’s face is on this huge billboard when you pull into the Fox lot. And that’s the disappointing thing, is it’s an opportunity lost. You don’t get a whole lot of opportunities.”
Simmons proceeded to point out that making a run in this year’s Copa America could have been big for lesser known top players like striker Folarin Balogun, especially with the U.S. set to host the World Cup in 2026.
“Another week to sell him and then he could be a household name in this country. Instead, we’re still left saying ‘that Christian Pulisic guy,’ if they can even pronounce his last name,” Stone said. “ I don’t think there’s a whole lot of names that [fans are] triggered by or excited about. And you’re right, now that they’re out, they’re like, ‘ well back to the Euros, right? Where it’s done correctly, where the camera angles aren’t off of a blimp and all of these players are playing at next level and the officials will actually shake your hand and not do play-ons while they’re giving you a yellow card.’ All of these really questionable sketchy moments and opportunities lost. I think that’s the big thing for the U.S.”
Stone noted he’s not “selling all my stock” when it comes to the USMNT, but it’s also tough to understate the magnitude of the program’s Copa America showing. As both he and Simmons pointed out, even just making it to the quarterfinals could have been significant as it would have put U.S. soccer in the spotlight on an otherwise quiet time on sports calendar.
Of course, the primary reason Fox is likely upset with the USMNT’s performance is that their matches proved to be a ratings hit . And that’s a trend that only would have continued as the stakes of the tournament continued to increase.
Ultimately, a U.S. run would have proven mutually beneficial to both Fox — which also holds the World Cup rights — and the future of the USMNT program. Instead, both find themselves understandably concerned about the state of soccer in the United States with just two years to go until it hosts the sport’s biggest event.
[ The Bill Simmons Podcast ]
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