The relentless hype surrounding David Beckham’s U.S. soccer debut helped make Saturday’s game between the L.A. Galaxy and Chelsea FC the most viewed Major League Soccer telecast in the history of ESPN and ESPN2.

An average of 947,000 television homes and 1.5 million total viewers saw Mr. Beckham play only about 16 minutes of the game because of an ankle injury.

The previous most viewed game featured DC United against the San Jose Clash on April 4, 1996; it was seen in 681,000 homes by 1.1 million viewers.

Mr. Beckham and the Galaxy will be televised by ESPN2 five more times this season.

(Editor: Romanelli)