The US men’s national team (USMNT) is set to return to the World Cup for the first time in eight years and DraftKings conducted a survey that explored the interest of the modern US soccer fan.
DraftKings conducted this third-party survey with Alchemer to determine key metrics surrounding viewership of the World Cup within the US. The two parties polled 1,000 soccer fans on a multitude of topics surrounding the upcoming tournament.
One key finding showed that US soccer fans have a diverse range of rooting interests in the teams competing in Qatar. Over one third of surveyed fans will be supporting a team that is not the USMNT.
Furthermore, 90% of respondees said the potential this year’s tournament may be Messi and Ronaldo’s final World Cup will increase their likelihood to watch the tournament. Patriotism was still evident in the results, however, with a similar number of respondents saying watching the USMNT’s young stars was also a major draw.
Brazil is currently the bookmaker’s favorite to win the tournament and they also lead the list of respondents’ favorite non-US teams, with 8.4% saying they wanted them to win. England takes second place in rooting interest among respondents with 4.3% backing them. Argentina and Mexico tie with 3.4% of surveyees picking them as favorites.
This follows a separate survey by the American Gaming Association, made earlier this week, that found 20.5 million Americans (8% of the population) say they plan to wager a total of $1.8bn on the tournament.
