Fox Sports is mounting what its production chief calls "the biggest production Fox Sports has ever put on in our company’s history" as the expanded 104‑match World Cup begins Thursday across 16 North American cities.
The tournament will feature 48 nations and 104 matches over a five‑week span, roughly double the size of the 2022 World Cup. Two‑thirds of those matches will air on the Fox broadcast network, with the remainder on cable’s FS1; all 104 matches will be available on Fox One. Streaming and ancillary windows are broader than in past cycles: Tubi will carry select live matches and shoulder and Cup‑themed programming.
Fox’s deeper inventory arrives at a moment when the U.S. broadcasters have something rare — a long, live programming run during a normally quiet television period. Fox averaged 3.6 million viewers per match in 2022 and drew a record 16.8 million for Argentina’s win over France in the final; Telemundo, which holds rights through 2030, averaged 2.6 million viewers in 2022. Fox’s current World Cup rights deal expires after this tournament, adding commercial weight to the network’s performance this summer.
On the production side Fox is pushing new studio technology to handle the volume and the ambition. Zac Kenworthy, Fox Sports’ vice president of production, said the network built Stage B in Los Angeles around an LED augmented‑reality wall with 50 million pixels and that the studio cameras will deliver the first World Cup presentation in high‑dynamic range. "It’s going to allow us to delve in deeper to the matches, to talk about the game in different ways, present the game in different ways," Kenworthy said, adding that the broadcast will feel "quite different," "rich" and "seamless," "populating our set with the sound and the feel of the stadium."
Streaming and second‑screen features are part of the distribution plan. Fox will put the full slate on Fox One, while Tubi takes a curated selection of live matches and surrounding content. Peacock will offer 'next play' features for viewers who move between linear and streaming to follow the tournament; as Joaquin Duro put it, "All of the folks that we have watching soccer, we do have ‘next play’ within Peacock, which is another very, very important feature,"
FIFA’s decision to expand the men’s World Cup from 32 nations and 64 matches in 2022 to 48 nations and 104 matches for 2026 has not been universally praised, and that friction follows the broadcasters into this tournament. The larger schedule guarantees Fox and Telemundo more live inventory, but it also dilutes the single‑match focus that helped produce very high peaks in 2022. How audiences react to more games across more days — and whether per‑match averages hold up when the slate triples — is the central uncertainty for rights holders and advertisers alike.
Practically, U.S. viewers should expect a packed daily window: marquee matches and the postseason flow toward Fox’s broadcast network while FS1 carries a steady stream of group‑stage games and overflow. Fox One will host every match for viewers who prefer a single destination; Tubi will supplement with select live telecasts and thematic shows that aim to capture incremental viewers.
The tournament opens Thursday and the broadcasters will immediately test their expanded pipelines and new studio tools. What remains unanswered as play begins is the simple but consequential question: can the expanded schedule match or exceed the commercial and audience returns of 2022? Fox’s production scale gives the network the technical ability to present every match; whether that presentation will translate into sustained, large audiences — especially with Fox’s rights set to expire after this event — is the outcome that will determine how this World Cup is judged.
