Why Soccer Will Never Be Popular In America

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As long as soccer remains very popular worldwide (which seems very likely), FIFA will make no major rule changes. And without major rules changes there will be no significant increase in scoring, which of course, will prevent soccer from becoming popular in the US. Americans Are Not The Best At It. Americans aren’t used to playing role of underdog. As many answers here have stated, soccer is very popular to play, but is not popular as a pro sport. I think the reason it is not popular as a pro sport is TV. American TV is riddled with ads. American TV will only promote heavily sports that fit their model of showing content that is interrupted frequently for ads. Major League Soccer (MLS) has come a long way over the last decade. As “football” continues to dominate as the most popular sport in the world, soccer has been in a constant battle in the United States against sports such as American Football, baseball, and basketball. Not Enough Offense. The biggest reason soccer is not such a prominent sport in the United States.

International Friendly Scores


Jun. 5 – United States vs Jamaica: 0-1


Jul. 16 – ACF Fiorentina vs Chivas Guadalajara: 2-1


Jul. 17 – Arsenal FC vs FC Bayern: 2-1


Jul. 20 – Arsenal FC vs ACF Fiorentina: 3-0

FC Bayern vs Real Madrid CF: 3-1

SL Benfica vs Chivas Guadalajara: 3-0

Why

Jul. 23 – Chicago Fire vs Cruz Azul: 0-2

Chivas Guadalajara vs Atletico De Madrid: 0-0

FC Bayern vs AC Milan: 1-0

LA Galaxy vs Club Tijuana: 2-2

Real Madrid CF vs Arsenal FC: 2-2


Jul. 24 – ACF Fiorentina vs SL Benfica: 1-2

Houston Dynamo vs Club America: 1-1

Real Salt Lake vs Tigres UANL: 0-1


Jul. 26 – Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid: 3-7


Jul. 28 – AC Milan vs. Benfica: 0-1


Soccer On The Rise

There’s no doubt that the interest and performance of soccer is growing at a rapid pace in the United States, but how does soccer really square up against other watched sports in America?

According to a 2018 GallUp poll, 7% of Americans stated that soccer was their favorite sport to watch, ranking 4th behind football, basketball, and baseball, which doesn’t seem so surprising.

The quality of play and development of player talent in other professional sports leagues like the National Basketball Association, National Football League, and Major League Baseball have been key reasons why football, basketball, and baseball are the three most popular sports to watch in the United States over top domestic soccer league, Major League Soccer.

However, according to Neilson, the MLS has seen a 27% interest in viewership in America since 2012. With initial hopes of bringing 28 teams into MLS within the coming years, the MLS Board of Governors voted to expand to 30 teams in April 2019.

With 30 teams coming into fruition within the coming years, will the increase in quality of play and player development on the pitch for MLS teams be enough to lure top talent from abroad and help keep Americans engaged in the sport?

History says yes.


The David Beckham Affect

Why Soccer Will Never Be Popular In America

For the longest time, Major League Soccer couldn’t pull world-class talent from abroad until the LA Galaxy signed England legend and international superstar David Beckham in 2007. The popularity of Beckham helped kickstart the soccer interest stateside and brought more of a technical side of play to American fans immediately.

While legendary European players like Thierry Henry, Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, Kaka, Steven Gerrard, Didier Drogba and others have graced the league with their talents over a 12-year period, former Manchester United superstars Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are two pivotal reasons why American fans are tuning into MLS games on weekends in 2019.


Rising to the Challenge: Berhalter & the USMNT

From an international perspective, the United States Men’s National Team has been on a roller coaster ride over the last five years. From making a run and respectably losing to Belgium in the Round of Sixteen of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil to not qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and new USMNT Manager Gregg Berhalter having his hands full with getting the national team back on track.

Though the product on the pitch hasn’t been much to desire over the last couple of years, Berhalter is investing in youth to help bring the USMNT back to the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, which is resonating well with the American fan base. Four of the best players from the United States Men’s National Team play in two of the top leagues in Europe, helping with the players development and competition within the United States camp.


View Counts Continue to Rise

Pre-season tournaments like the International Champions Cup are also big contributors to Americans’ growing interest in soccer. American fans that love watching their favorite European teams on television every week might not be able to travel from one country to another to see their favorite team play, so the accessibility to watching their teams play a pre-season friendly against another top European team in the United States is more feasible.

Why soccer should be more popular in america

Two of the best European clubs played the most intense rivalry in world football, giving the American fans the quality of talent and football known across the globe. Known as El Clásico, Real Madrid and Barcelona’s annual clásico was played for the first time stateside in Miami during the 2017 International Champions Cup. With more than 1.7 million viewers, and shattering ESPN’s ratings, El Clásico became the most watched non-United States international friendly ever.

The MLS is a healthy league that is growing from its own reputation. With the help of international clubs and players expanding into the sports market in America, as well as a youthful national team with hopes of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the popularity of soccer in the United States is rising and can only continue to grow in America.

*Updated 2019
The United States and soccer, the rest of the world’s favorite sport, have always had a complicated relationship. Long seen as a children’s game, professional soccer has never reached the popularity that professional sports like basketball or football enjoy. Renewed efforts have been made to grow American interest in it, most notably David Beckham’s and Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s respective transfers to LA Galaxy in 2007 and 2018. The US women’s national team 2019 World Cup victory may change how Americans as whole view soccer, but the sport still hasn’t caught on in the US as a truly mainstream sport.
The following are arguments for or against soccer’s potential as a big sport in America.

Three reasons why Soccer will get bigger

Growing among children

Soccer has been America’s favorite sport among children for years now. The suburban ‘soccer-mom’ who drives her kids to practice in an SUV has become a staple in American life. In fact, the US has a higher amount of registered under-18 players than any country in the Americas or Europe, according to a FIFA report. This large pool of young talent promises further growth and potential success at the adult level. Plus, a Gallup poll shows that because of Milliennials’ love of the sport, soccer’s popularity has tripled in the last decade and currently ranks fourth among all sports.

Massive investment and big-name players

The US women’s national soccer team has produced inspiring players both on and off the field, some of whom, like team captain Megan Rapinoe, are amassing global fans, young and old, which cultivates attention to the sport, especially for young players. Women’s soccer aside, after Beckham, stars such as Ricardo Kaká, Thierry Henry and Steven Gerrard crossed the Atlantic. Such arrivals, coupled with significant investment in new stadiums, have increased the number of Americans attending games. The MLS (Major League Soccer) broke its average season attendance for three years straight. It ranks sixth in the world for average attendance, above the Italian and French leagues. With the establishment of new clubs in LA, Atlanta, Minnesota and Miami, among other cities, and further investment in big-name players and modern stadiums, soccer’s emergence as one of America’s top sports may simply be a matter of time.

America’s Latino population is growing

The United States has a rapidly growing Latino population, of which there were 52 million in the country as of 2016. Between 2008-2018, 12.6% of the men’s national team were players of Latino origins, reflecting a small but perhaps growing influence that immigrants have on US soccer. Immigrants specifically from Mexico or Brazil tend to bring along their love for the sport, spreading it to their kids. As more of these future Americans play and watch soccer, the quality of the national team is bound to increase while games get more followers. Improving both factors will contribute to the sport’s growth in the US. Just like with cuisine and languages, America is slowly importing Latino soccer culture.

America already has other favorite sports

Diving has tainted its reputation

Already seen as a kid’s sport in most of the country, soccer’s reputation among Americans has been tarnished by the many examples of diving, the act of feigning or exaggerating injury to have an opposing player disqualified. Particularly to fans of a more hands-on sport like American football, the diving and acting sometimes seen in soccer paints a dishonest and underhanded image of the sport. Many Americans have difficulty getting behind a sport that, to them, encourages cheating.

Americans prefer their own more culturally ingrained sports

Sports like basketball and football are deeply intertwined with American culture. It has become a family ritual to watch the baseball World Series in the fall and football on Thanksgiving. The Super Bowl is the biggest sporting and arguably cultural event in the country. Playing fantasy football and following college basketball March Madness unites college fans, families and colleagues all over the country after work. To many, basketball is a great unifier: it is seen as an integral part of inner-city culture just as much as it is of suburban America. Through their presence in US history, these sports have become synonymous with being American. Soccer may never evoke such feelings of history, identity and pride.

Enthusiasm fizzles out after every World Cup

Americans like to get together to see their country win, particularly on the world stage. However, if the US men’s team had not taken part in the 2014 World Cup, viewership statistics would have been much lower. The final of Euro 2016, between France and Portugal, got an average viewership of 5.89 million on ESPN’s English and Spanish channels, far below the 18.22 million that watched USA-Portugal in the 2014 World Cup. People in the US will casually follow a World Cup in droves, only to go back to watching football or basketball during the season. The fact that the US didn’t qualify for the 2018 World Cup made Americans even less interested in the tournament. Not to mention that news of the world champion US women’s national soccer team filing a lawsuit against the national soccer federation over gender discrimination didn’t make the sport any more popular. Plus, given thatthe first chant after the women’s team 2019 World Cup victory was “Equal Pay!” and the fact that the team captain has refused to visit the White House, fans may not appreciate that politics have seemingly entered the sport.

The Bottom Line: While soccer is still relatively new as a mainstream American sport, the excitement generated during World Cups is far from being seen outside of those events. But the fact that so many Millennials play the sport indicates that it will be a bigger part of American culture as it grows with them. Are you a soccer fan? Do you imagine yourself becoming one?