World Cup setting TV ratings records. Are Utahns watching?

Enoch Whitaker’s mom turned him on to soccer at a young age.

Having served a mission in Argentina for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 1990s, Joan Whitaker is partial to La Selección. She also follows England because of the David Beckham phenomenon some years ago.

Mother and son have watched World Cup matches together as far back as he can remember. “I don’t have any memories of the 2006 World Cup, but I’m sure she sat me in front of the TV for some of it,” he said.

Now 23, the Provo software engineer and his mom still text back and forth when their favorites play, including the United States. He loves the flow of the game, the passing, the anticipation, how everything has to set up almost perfectly for a goal.

Whitaker figures he’ll watch at least half of the 104 games that make up the six-week tournament that started June 11. He won’t miss one during the knockout stage. He’s grateful the U.S., Canada and Mexico are the host nations, saving him from having to stay up all night because of the time difference abroad.

“I try to pull up every single one that I can because it’s once every four years,” he said, adding that includes matches between countries that don’t make headlines. On a recent flight, he noticed that he was the only person on the plane watching the England-Ghana match.

Are Utahns watching the World Cup?

Whitaker joins more than half of Utahns who say they will watch at least one and as many as 15 or more World Cup matches, according to a new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll.

Specifically, the survey found 24% of Utahns say they will watch 1-4 games; 16% will watch 5-9 games; 10% will watch 10-15 games; and 5% will watch more than 15. It also showed 39% of people in the state won’t watch at all.

“I’m definitely a 5 percenter,” Whitaker said.

More Gen Zers, like Whitaker, and millennials were apt to watch dozens of games, but according to the poll, they still amounted to just less than 1 in 10. About a quarter of people in those demographics said they would catch a game or two.

Baby boomers were the least interested in the World Cup, with more than half saying they won’t watch any matches. At the same time, 15% — three times the overall rate in the survey — plan to see 10 to 15. But none more than that.

Nearly half women polled said they won’t watch any games, compared to just under a third of men.

Morning Consult conducted the poll of 850 registered Utah voters June 16-22. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Soccer — or football as it’s known around the world — has gained some traction in the U.S. in recent years, but American fans aren’t as rabid as those in Europe and South America, where the sport is king.

Early TV ratings for the 2026 World Cup, though, set records for Fox and Telemundo. The United States’ opening match against Paraguay drew 18 million viewers on Fox Sports, becoming the most-watched English-language soccer telecast ever in the U.S., per Deadline.

The U.S. has won its first two games in the group stage and meets Turkey on Thursday night. It has already clinched a spot in the knockout round, which could heighten interest even more.

What sports draw the most interest in Utah?

The Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll also gauged Utahns’ interest in several sports.

Half of Utah voters (52%) say they are either avid or casual fans of soccer — behind football (74%), basketball (70%), baseball (63%) and hockey (58%), but ahead of volleyball (44%) and tennis (35%).

Only 14% consider themselves avid soccer fans, while 37% described their fandom as casual. Another 47% are not fans at all.

Avid volleyball and tennis fans accounted for less than 10% of those surveyed, and more than half for tennis and nearly two-thirds for volleyball have no interest in those sports.

It’s not surprising that American football — the most popular sport in the country by a wide margin — generates the most interest among Utahns, with 34% saying they’re avid fans and 40% casual fans.

The poll found 42% of Utahns age 35-44 consider themselves avid football fans, the highest among all age categories. Nearly 4 in 10 men and 3 in 10 women are avid fans, and more women than men call themselves casual fans.

For basketball, 21% are avid fans, while 49% are casual, which was highest among the sports in the poll.

Among baseball fans, 18% are avid and 45% casual, per the survey. Meanwhile, 15% of Utahns described themselves as avid hockey fans, while 43% say they are casual fans.