Will soccer ever become the most popular sport in America?

photofinish wrote:

When SportsCenter begins to lead its broadcasts with soccer highlights, I will start to believe you. Until then, soccer occupies a spot somewhere between hot dog eating contests and poker. If the interest level was really there, you would see soccer in the first five minutes of the show. But you can watch a week of SportsCenter without once seeing a soccer highlight.

This is a terrible metric. Sportscenter is just a commercial for ESPN programming and they lead with sports that are on their network. Nothing more or less.

It's fairly fun to play, but awful to watch on television.

the major problem is not so much the lack of scoring as it is the lack of quality scoring chances. A 90 minute match with very few scoring chances equates to boredom for the average American sports viewer and I'm definitely one of them. Soccer will never take off as a major viewing sport in the U.S. with several other far better options already firmly in place. As others have mentioned, the exploding Hispanic population may start changing that dynamic a bit, but it will still take decades for it to be a meaningful change from the current state.

coach d wrote:

Actually, in US high schools, soccer is presently fourth-rate in participation, behind football, track and field (yeah!), and basketball, in that order. Soccer may ultimately be sixth-rate, behind faster-growing lacrosse and swimming and diving.

In my mind, American football players look like athletes, basketball players look like athletes, people like Bolt and Ashton Eaton look like athletes....and people like soccer players and runners like Rupp look and act like dorks. But even in 10000m, you still have a last lap where people actually RUN. Soccer pretty much just wimps out.

Name ONE pro soccer player who's a$$ Eva Longoria couldn't kick. That's why soccer will never be popular in the land of the NHL.

Make up your own mind as to whether soccer players look like athletes. Soccer players are dorks if you consider global icons who have made it to the highest level in the worlds most competitive sport dorks. Mario Balotelli could probably hold his own against Eva Longoria.

Carnivore 69 wrote:

In 1979, we were told that soccer would be the number one sport in the country in 10-15 years. That was in the middle of the soccer craze. Now it is 33 years later and it isn't any more popular now than it was then.

Agree. And this disinterest is even true at the NCAA level. Attendance figures for the most recent championships:

> Men's basketball - 70,376 (won by Kentucky)

> Men's D-I lacrosse - 30,816 (won by Loyola)

> Men's ice hockey - 19,222 (won by Boston College)

> Men's wrestling - 18,732 (won by Penn State)

> Women's basketball - 17,473 (won by Baylor)

> Men's D-III lacrosse - 17,005 (won by Salisbury)

> Men's soccer - 8,777 (won by UNC in 2011)

I'm an avid soccer fan and I don't give a sh\it about the NCAA. I barely give a sh\it about MLS. I watch 2-4 soccer matches on TV in any given week during the season and not once have I watched even 45 minutes of an MLS match. I'd like to see the ratings for live matches on Fox Soccer Channel. They show Premier League, Champions League and MLS live. Despite the MLS matches being at a much more convenient time for the US audience I bet they get a fraction of the viewers an EPL match gets.

The popularity of soccer does not follow the traditional pattern of US sports. I guess that must be why you people feel so threatened by it that you keep trying to come up with ways to put it down.

Moby wrote:

I'm an avid soccer fan and I don't give a shit about the NCAA. I barely give a shit about MLS.

Precisely. And so somehow Americans will one day magically develop a passion for nil-nil contests that are rife with pansy boys taking dives to draw fouls? Bwahahahahaha. Dream on spud. The beautiful sport, my arse.

The fact that the us is becoming more spanish all the time doesn't matter. Heck, they may become football fans and abandon soccer like the rest of us. If they don't so what, I'm not going to be a fan because my lawn care worker or the local dishwasher is a fan.

Soccer is an exciting game and there are many instances where hot favorites are beaten by the underdogs. A part-time US team even defeated the England team in the world cup.

another banned poster wrote: It's not a difference of opinion I reacted to, it's your ignorance. To even suggest playing without a goalie says you have no clue how soccer is played. Hey, you know what would make baseball interesting? Replace the bats with tennis rackets and make the rules similar to dodge ball.

Speaking of ignorance, read your own metaphor and see if you can get your pea-sized brain around the fact that it lacks any reason whatsoever compared to my suggestion for higher scoring soccer games.

Look, I'm not saying anyone shouldn't be a soccer fan. You clearly are and that's great for you. You're right; I am ignorant of soccer. I'm not a student of the sport and have no desire to become one. You were obviously to ignorant yourself to infer that I am one of the casual soccer observers I referred to, so I'll reiterate that my OPINION is based on what I see whenever I try to stomach a soccer game. I see great, skilled athletes playing a low-scoring game. I completely understand that having goalies is part of the sport; I merely suggested that casual fans would be more drawn to the game if the rules were changed to facilitate more scoring.

You being a hormonally imbalanced adolescent, you obviously have great difficulty considering any line of thinking that is not your own. But stop being a D-bag, okay?

another banned poster wrote:

I'll see your Big Dunc and raise you Vinnie Jones.

Big Dunc would crush Vinnie Jones tbf.

Stig Tofting is another guy HARD AS NAILS.

This thread sums up Letsrun pretty well

40% trolls

40% idiots that can't help but react to trolls

20% legit comments

15 years ago Baseball was as popular as the NFL. Now the NFL shits on baseball from a great height. This isn't my opinion, this is what the numbers tell us.

Things change quickly and there's no doubt that soccer is on the rise. It's unlikely ever to be the most popular any time soon, but I expect to see it feature a lot more in the sports media in the coming years.

The World Cup in Brazil in 2014 will let us know where it really stands. It will be an absolute massive f*ck up if the US fails to qualify for this.

I've tried numerous times to get into soccer. I watched some of the games in the last 2 world cups & I watched games during the recent Euro cup. I just can't get really into it.

The flopping & constant whining like little girls annoys me to death. I love basketball & they do the same, but the NBA does it to a much lesser degree. Basketball, tennis, golf, boxing, baseball, mma, American football, track & road racing, are much more exciting.

Moby wrote:

I'm an avid soccer fan and I don't give a shit about the NCAA. I barely give a shit about MLS. I watch 2-4 soccer matches on TV in any given week during the season and not once have I watched even 45 minutes of an MLS match. I'd like to see the ratings for live matches on Fox Soccer Channel. They show Premier League, Champions League and MLS live. Despite the MLS matches being at a much more convenient time for the US audience I bet they get a fraction of the viewers an EPL match gets.

The popularity of soccer does not follow the traditional pattern of US sports. I guess that must be why you people feel so threatened by it that you keep trying to come up with ways to put it down.

This is a great post. I watch on average 3 games of soccer a week, and yet I've never watched an NCAA game or a full MLS game. Watching the EPL and the Champions League is like watching a completely different sport. The American game is so technically poor that I agree it is boring, but watch an El Clasico match(Barcelona vs. Real Madrid) and even if the game ends 0-0 (which it never does btw) you will be in awe by the skill displayed and the effort the players put in.

I'll concede that some teams, such as Stoke City, play such an awful defensive style that their games are never worth watching, but if you watch great attacking sides like Barca, Arsenal, Bayern, Juve or especially Dortmund this year you will not be disappointed.

Would more Americans be interested in it if they awarded 10 points for every goal?

The bigger numbers on the scoreboard might dupe the viewer into thinking they're seeing more goals.

I think the reason why it lacks popularity is that they're told not to like it because broadcasters don't like having to have 45 minute periods without ad breaks during primetime.

Americans are told they like sports which stop for a couple of minutes, so they can sell ads for viagra and beer, so that's what they like.

(Stoke are great to watch, in my opinion, the art of defending is all but dead, but they're keeping it alive.)

trollism wrote:

Would more Americans be interested in it if they awarded 10 points for every goal? The bigger numbers on the scoreboard might dupe the viewer into thinking they're seeing more goals.

Lack of scoring IS the main problem. Nil to nil outcomes are pathetic to watch. Give me rugby any day over the tedium of futbol.

Wisco Guy wrote:

Lack of scoring IS the main problem. Nil to nil outcomes are pathetic to watch. Give me rugby any day over the tedium of futbol.

It's the main problem for it to integrate into American society, it's not the main problem with the sport.

I think that a lot of American sports fans need the constant stream of mainly meaningless excitement with the very very rare moment of absolute euphoria, while European sports watchers prefer the one or two moments of real excitement and the anticipation that one of these moments could be coming up. (even if eventually it doesn't.)

I mean, Basketball is a good game to watch, but how often is there a really pivotal moment that makes people go nuts? A team might have a couple per season, if that.

I came to America from Ireland 5 years ago. Went to small town high school with no soccer, got completely involved in all sports Track, XC, BB, FB. Made all-state as a kicker and placed in a few state meets. I used to watch Sportscenter religiously, and my Friday through Monday was immersed in Football. A few notes on America, mainly small time America.

Friday night lights is an atmosphere that needs to stay in America. It is a crucial element of Americana and helps with the development of youth IF it is done right.

Going to a packed basketball game against your rival HS is something that cannot be topped as a feeling when you win on a buzzer-beater.

Since I went to college I have came back to soccer and have really enjoyed it as I can identify with the culture more. You get a game EVERY DAY if you know how to use the streams and it can become quite addicting.

If soccer was to take off in the US a few things would need to happen (that I am certain won't)

1) ESPN/Sportcenter need to be abolished, that show is a complete waste of time and to call any one on that fascist network an impartial journalist is a joke.

2) Replace Sportcenter with a decent highlight show with some friendly banter and a few calling in. Such as Match of the Day that the BBC does.

3) Get Alexi Lalas off tv he knows nothing, I want to punch him in the face every time he covers soccer.

4) Implement some quality call in radio programs, these are sometimes twice the entertainment that the game was. Hearing two passionate fans debating whether the manager needs to go can be hilarious

5) A grass roots amateur league needs to be set up with a Pyramid system that leads to the MLS. Part of the dream of soccer is that your local pub team can play Manchester United if it wins the right games every season. The FA cup is a great competition if something similar was implemented I could see things looking up.

Finally, I enjoy watching a good college football and basketball game. I have lost touch with the NFL since they raped and pillaged my beloved Saints and don't get me started on the NBA that is nearly as scripted as a WWF/WCW wrestling show.

Thats my two cents, in my unbiased opinion I feel BBC should just cover the media global. Maybe keep CNN or some other new outlets. American TV drives me mad with all the politics in every show

Tiger_runner wrote:

5) A grass roots amateur league needs to be set up with a Pyramid system that leads to the MLS. Part of the dream of soccer is that your local pub team can play Manchester United if it wins the right games every season. The FA cup is a great competition if something similar was implemented I could see things looking up.

i think this already exists. there is a cup tournament played besides the MLS that includes teams of minor leagues, oder?

what they really need is to get rid of the Franchise system. Have a second and third division and the possibility of your team getting relegated and dissapearing into oblivion (or the other way around).

Yes the Lamar Hunt Trophy which has been around for a while. I feel like that could take on a community feel if popularity increased. Coming from the midwest, you don't see any amateur league sides that are relevant. If I could find a club team within 50 miles I would join it.

The franchise system does not work for soccer. Soccer is a club sport, the club starts small and grows roots in a community. The club is not about the players or the manager. It is about the people in the stands. Its like keeping a tree in a pot from the store. You have to plant it in the ground and let it grow and be embraced.