Real soccer fans are more interested in the EPL and the big Euro Leagues than the MLS.....watching the MLS is like watching a Single-A baseball game.
I don’t think it would be hard to eclipse hockey. I think dodge ball could do that.
As far as basketball? I don’t think I’d like to see that happen. At least with basketball the total number of thugs is pretty much limited to those on the court. In soccer you could have 25 or 30 thousand of them in the stands.
BWAAAAA! I played soccer in high school. It’s fun to play, but boring as hell to watch. I was lazy, so I chose to play goalie. Man! was that a mistake! I got the cr@p kicked outa me! But at least I wasn’t running up and down the field like a maniac,
More cash flow won’t do a thing to make soccer sensible.
Is the NBA about to fold? I believe that is what it would take.
This article makes it sound like $200 million is some huge investment in professional sports. Heck, Nike probably has paid one single retired basketball player (Michael Jordan) more than $200 million ll by himslf. $200 million is less than the top two American team hockey players’ contracts (Ovechkin and Yashin).
Oh, and it is not hard to have greater attendance per game with fewer games, fewer teams, and OUTDOOR stadiums versus indoor courts and rinks.
On the basis of per game attendance, NASCAR is probably the biggest spectator sport in the country, but that doesn’t even get mentioned by CBS, who thinks that soccer should be called American football. They better watch it, since CBS gets its top ratings these days from the NFL, and Fox’s turning point competitively came when they outbid CBS for NFC games.
Why is soccer continuosly pushed on us? There is no real market for the game in this country. We are a Football, Baseball, and Basketball(in that order) fanbase. Hockey to a smaller degree. Soccer cannot compete in the US market. In the words of my man Jim Rome “Soccer sucks, and we suck at soccer”.
Is it football season yet?
I can totally believe this. The immigration ( legal and illegal ) factor is coming into play by marketeers. Soccer is big everywhere but in the USA. As more immigrants come to the US the fan base in soccer will grow. It’s a slow growth market but it’s only going to get bigger and bigger. It’s pretty cheap to buy into it now and gain an edge over the late comers. Adidas is making a very smart move.
Looking at the other major sports markets in this country , it seems their markets are stagnant or shrinking. Why is that?....
If they were able to bottle and market someone like this here in the U.S., then we might have something:
Lionel Messi, easily the greatest player of all time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrpBEmAxWYs
Watch and be fascinated by true athletic genius.
Since they first attempted to make soccer a major sport in the U.S. going back to the late sixties, I’ve yet to hear one friend, family member, co-worker, or chance acquaintance talk about soccer. Not one time. How many of the hundreds of thousands of high schoolers who play on soccer teams play it after they graduate? Even in pickup games?
I do not know anyone who actually WATCHED a soccer game on TV or in person (except for childrens games)
Every couple of years, we hear that soccer will become “the next major U.S. sport”. And every single time, I am proven right when I say it will never, ever happen. Soccer is one of those games where all of its fun is in actually playing it. Watching it on tv is as much fun as getting a root canal procedure done.
Real Americans pay zero attention to the organized crime owned game called soccer.
Its a gang centered “sport.”
.
Could US Soccer Eclipse Basketball and Hockey?
Only if Vuvuzela becomes our National Anthem.
Today, sports that were not pleasant to watch on TV in the days of NTSC 4:3 aspect ratio broadcasting such as soccer and hockey are actually GREAT to watch in HD, mostly because you can now see essentially most of the game action in sharp clarity and widescreen display. That's why I really enjoyed the 2010 World Cup final (well, except for the Dutch team playing just too rough).
By the way, the untimely death of Junior Seau could be the trigger point for a major re-evaluation of American football, and it could begin the slow decline of the sport itself.
It is a matter of demographics. One out of 8 is foreign born and it will be one in five in 2050. There are 40 million immigrants in this country. Soccer is the world’s number 1 sport. It is just a matter of time before it makes a big impact here.
LOL!
Kobe Bryant’s contract is worth $136 million just by himself.
delusional
Note to self: It's been approx. 37 years since Pele' and soccer still takes a backseat to watching grass grow.............time to sell my Adidas stock.