7 Reasons Why Football (Soccer) Will Never Be a Major Success in the US
by Mad Dog and Glory on October 13th, 2009 472 words | 17 commentsSeven Reasons Why Football (Soccer) and the United States do not really need each other.
1. Not enough Stats
American sport lovers, love stats, as do I. Football (Soccer) doesn’t have enough. A game like Cricket really should do far better stateside, that sport has more stats than just about any sport known to man. However it seems unlikely that a sport that can take five days to complete and still end a draw will catch on in the US.
2. Other Sports Have Had a Headstart
The stellar success of the major sports in the US will always give them an advantage when it comes to drawing supporters to the games as well as drawing athletes to opt to participate in other more established pastimes.
3. The USA Is not Very Good at Soccer
When your nation is number one at the sports it enjoys most it is always going to be tough to try to garner excitement about a sport where they are average at best. Again the USA is far better at Soccer than it realistically should be given the relatively short amount of time that it has had a successful domestic league. The country should be proud of what it has achieved thus far but it will take quite some time for them to really be up with the big hitters but if/when they do then expect the sport to be taken far more seriously by the nation as a whole.
4. Not enough stoppages for advertising
Advertising is of course paramount in all countries and across all sports. It just so happens that the big sports in the US, Basketball, Baseball and American Football all have handy intervals that allow the maximizing of revenue from sponsors. Soccer does not cater for such possibilities quite so easily.
5. No full time buzzer
There is something very exact in nature about the way the big sports in the US come to a halt. Soccer can meander on at the referee’s discretion, something that can both confound and confuse even European Soccer fans. Personally I think a full time buzzer and countdown would benefit the sport.
6. Not Enough Cheerleaders
Again this is something I am all for introducing. Just as long as the Cheerleaders that are used are extremely attractive and are forced to wear as little clothing as possible, especially on those cold winter nights.
7. The love of other sports to great to allow another pastime to break into the big leagues.
There is simply not enough room in the American market for another big sport. This is perhaps the biggest reason against Soccer becoming a Major League success. In many ways it has more of a chance of making it as a niche pastime.
For this very same reason American Football and Baseball don’t get much of a look in in Europe.
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anonymous - October 13th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
8. Support and Passion.
Fickle american sports fans dont have the same idea about supporting a team through thick and thin (a worrying trend that is coming into english football as a result of globalasation). They dont understand that your football team is in your blood and you stand out in the freezing pissing rain shouting for ur team when they are 3nil down on a tuesday nite away at Plymouth.
when the “broncos” or whatever lose a few games its a case of “they suck” i`m gonna support the “steelers”. or whatever the stupid names they have
Statistics is a good point also, it all comes down to american attitute and the fact they want everything put on a plate for them, they want to be told how good a player is by having his statistics displayed in front of them. Football fans, most of them, would rather watch a game, study a player, know his strengths and weaknesses in different types of game. hell i have been to baseball games and basketball games, half the people dont even watch it unless something is happening.
anonymous - October 13th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
I don’t think the comment about a lack of support and passion is fair. I’ve seen the same amount of passion in American football as I have with the other. I know plenty of people who have been fans of a particular team since they were born. American sports fans can be fickle, though, that part isn’t completely untrue. To be fair, though, I envy European football, because everything is in such close proximity, which means its easy to be a traveling fan and its easier to be so “supportive”. Granted, there’s no competition between the likes of European football and American football (soccer) in terms of passion, but that’s not for a lack of trying.
Retryboy - October 13th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Really glad it never took off in america its enough with blatter and platini and the fa’s refereeing directives ruining the game if it had caught on wouldn’t have been long till the americans were trying to put their own rules in. Also americans like classifying their citizens jocks should be muscle bound fitting american football or baseball or tall and athletic for basketball footballers would just throw out their balance and confuse the poor jocks
anonymous - October 13th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Refutation:
1. I remember when stats weren’t a big deal in the NFL. Now they are. Americans will ALWAYS find something to stat about.
2. American football only gained popularity in the NFL after the 1950’s. In fact most sport leagues began this century. Things change.
3. Many countries aren’t good at soccer (ie most of the world) but still love it. And the US has been consistently ranked in the top 25 most of the decade (a stat!).
4. Have you seen NASCAR!?! It’s a big “sport” too! There’s no stoppage (outside of those side by side commercials which will never catch on in football but aren’t needed since the game is shorter) they just figured out how to incorporate advertising.
5. America’s past time has no buzzer.
6. No cheerleaders in baseball, racing, tennis, golf, etc.
7. Demographics change. As do opinions. All of our sports are relatively new compared to civilizations.
anonymous - October 13th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
it will never e….v…..e….r.. no no never i agree
RaNE - October 13th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
i think it can take off but itll need some doing
anonymous - October 13th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
The landscape is changing, my friends. Starts at the youth level. In 1990, there were 1.6 M registered youth soccer players. In 2007 3.1M (again with the stats). As interest grows, the better natural athletes will make choices to pursue soccer over other sports, which will up the level in the US., which will snowball into good things all around for the sport.
Adults are trying to catch up to their kid’s passion by quickly trying to learn the game. Would probably make anyone outside the U.S. puke and/or laugh at some of the absurdity. Whatever the case, shift is coming – not next year, or the year after, but in 15 years soccer will be a contender for #3 in the U.S. IMHO.
anonymous - October 14th, 2009 at 3:08 am
Level of play….MLS is like 2nd or 3rd division in most countries. The precision and the game that is played in England, Spain, and Italy makes MLS look like a travel team.
Talent…most of US talent play overseas. Playing in the MLS does not help your game. It helps you keep in shape but the real competition is overseas. If the US can groom an sustain the talent it would be a different story. Start a program to groom players. Hire an international coach like Gus Hiddink. We will see after 2010 World Cup what happens.
Branding…Not sure what you call this. Basketball has Kobe, Jordan Lebron, etc… NFL has Peyton, Brett Favre, etc… Yes you have Landon Donovan as the face of US Soccer and MLS. But who else? Freddy Adu? He can barely get any playing time. Altidore? Perhaps. Connor Casey? How Casey can score on the international level still mystifies me. But again it goes back to finding that talent and that name to boost US Soccer, it needs a marquee name.
-the stone cold lock
anonymous - October 14th, 2009 at 7:09 am
8 American sports do have passionate supporters. College basketball crowds are probably the most passionate crowds in the world.
anonymous - October 14th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
You try being a Detroit Lions fan for life.
American sports fans are no more fickle than English fans. Even Liverpool supporters (and I number myself one) boo their own players (Lucas). That’s a disgrace, my friend. I’ve never seen a Detroit Pistons fan boo any of their players. I’ve never even seen a Clippers fan do it, though I imagine they do.
Retryboy - October 14th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
How dare you call liverpool fans fickle players get every opportunity liverpool fans are knowledgeable no one judged lucas instantly but when someone performs consistently badly over a year long period costing the team you love points and keeping better players out of the team you are entitled to voice your frustrations its saying to the manager get him off the pitch he isn’t good enough
anonymous - October 14th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
“They dont understand that your football team is in your blood and you stand out in the freezing pissing rain shouting for ur team”
Lambeau field, 2007 NFC championship, game time temp -7 F, -24 F with the windchill! (good stat)
Note: “Stats” are loved in the US because they can be used to disprove the idiotic assertions
RaNE - October 14th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
i wouldnt mind the premiership having cheerleaders
anonymous - October 14th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Here’s why your wrong:
http://soccer-source.blogspot.com/2009/10/one-reason-why-football-soccer-will.html
anonymous - October 15th, 2009 at 1:11 am
I am an American Soccer supporter, I have been since I was about 8 years old (I’m 25 now) and I’ve played from middle school through college. My friends are all huge soccer supporters as well, along with a number of people in the area I live.
The main problem with soccer in the US is the low caliber of players playing in the MLS.
I go to the pub every Saturday morning to watch the Premier League matches with my friends and the pubs are usually packed with supporters of a number of various clubs. Yet when the MLS is on, the pub is dead.
We sold out M&T Bank stadium (over 71,000 seats) for the Chelsea v. AC Milan friendly in Baltimore… that alone should be a show of the numbers of supporters we have in the states, and its growing.
What needs to be done?
-Get rid or raise the salary cap in the MLS
Plain and simple, thats the best bet for the MLS to prosper… no one wants to watch a drab match, and unfortunately most MLS matches are like that. They are slow moving and lack any flair (with the exception of the better 2 or 3 teams in the league). They also need to bring names other than David Beckham or any other 30+ year old player.
Another thing Americans like is anything high scoring.
Last year, the NHL made their regulation goals larger to allow higher scoring games… the result? Near the end of the season last year the NHL had higher ratings than the last decade.
Overall though, soccer is on the rise as far as number of supporters in the US and thats thanks to the US National Team’s better performances (like defeating Spain, for example). The Gold Cup against Brazil after we beat Spain was the highest viewed soccer match in US soccer history and I’m sure once the World Cup progresses, the viewers will rise. At least until team USA gets knocked out or wins the Cup.
anonymous - October 16th, 2009 at 1:52 am
I feel that soccer can make it as as the caps go off, excet when we bring in great players for all teams we will need full stadiums to finance, great players, so this is were we can fail a la NASL, we had 22 teams and could not keep up with the New York Cosmos, I was an LA Asteck fan at the time, and we barely had 20,000 fans in the Rose Ball, with Pele and Becknenbauer ect..
Why a met a New York guy with his son come to this game, he was an american that was a fanatic that flew 3,00 miles just to see his team.
It can happened, but we have to make sure each team watch their budget, and be wise in how to manage.
anonymous - December 7th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Christ, really living up to American stereotypes with that one. Might as well read, ”
1. Americans are too stupid.
End.”
There are plenty of stats for “soccer”, just look on ESPN Soccercast. Not that these things really serve a purpose; the joy of spectator sport is largely in discussing games subjectively, not just pointing out meaningless numbers.
Add some cheerleaders if you want. Plenty European stadiums have them.
“Soccer can meander on at the referee’s discretion, something that can both confound and confuse even European Soccer fans.”
This just gets a big old “lol”, from me. There’s a difference between not understanding something and not particularly agreeing with it. Sometimes the referee ends the game earlier/later than he should but you don’t see actual fans sitting about scratching their heads thinking, “Duh?”