While soccer is still trying to grow legs here in the U.S., it remains a global game in every sense of the phrase.
Nothing backs that up more than the recent report by FIFA, which stated that at least 1 billion people watched at least one minute of the Spain-Netherlands final, including online and public domains.
When figuring out the amount of people who watched at least 20 consecutive minutes of the game, the number drops to just under 620 million people worldwide.
Even with those staggering numbers, the final sits second to the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the world's most watched event. The "average in-home global audience" of the opening ceremonies at the Bird's Nest was 593 million people, compared to about 531 million for the final in Johannesburg, South Africa.
FIFA also reported that the entire tournament was broadcasted in every territory in the world, and more than 3.2 billion people — almost half the world's population — watched at least one minute of the event.
What's all that viewership worth exactly? According to FIFA's report the federation earned $2.4 billion in broadcasting deals for the worldwide event.
