The World Cup also set social - media records . Sunday 's Brazil - Argentina final saw 618,000 fans per game . Tourney 's first week outpaced Super Bowl , Oscars and Olympics . Compare that to the 7 million people in Argentina and 5 million in Germany , the match 's actual participants , and you can see that U.S. interest in the tourney did n't disappear when the American side bowed out . FIFA says increases in U.S. popularity contributed to social dominance .
The World Cup also set social - media records . Sunday 's Brazil - Argentina final saw 618,000 fans per game . Tourney 's first week outpaced Super Bowl , Oscars and Olympics . FIFA says increases in U.S. popularity contributed to social dominance .