Is soccer popular in SouCal? (Los Angeles, Orange: living in, restaurants, stadium)

[GulfCaptain]

Southern California has the largest hispanic population in the United States.
Not by percentage, that crown would go to Puerto Rico (obviously), but in terms of sheer numbers, 4 million hispanics live in Los Angeles County alone, which is larger than the entire population of Puerto Rico.
In Orange County, there are 15 Spanish Radio Stations, and you tend to hear Spanish being spoken all the time in SouCal. Mexican restaurants also can be found everywhere throughout the area.

To those of you living in the area though, is the passion for soccer/football that is heavily prevalent in Mexico (and the rest of Latin America) also heavily prevalent among the large Mexican community in SouCal?
Are the Los Angeles Galaxy popular with this demographic, or any other soccer franchise in the area?

I did hear before that one city the MLS should expand to is Miami, since they'd be more accepting of a soccer franchise due to their large hispanic population down there.
However, SouCal has both a large hispanic population AND an MLS team. Can it's popularity of lack there of in SouCal prove anything for how it would work in Miami?

[Csonka]

I think so, at least support for the two pro teams

If you drive around you will also see pick up and organized games at public parks. Nothing major, just like 10 or 20 guys kicking around

[silverkris]

Well, Sports Illustrated just had an article on El Tri, the Mexican national team, and its following in the USA. They'll play games at Levi's Stadium up here in Silicon Valley and fill the place up.

And fans aren't just 1st generation immigrants - seems like more than 2/3rds of them are American born, 2nd and 3rd generation.

Oh, and BTW, it's "SoCal" for Southern California.

[davidt1]

Yeah with the Asians, Mexicans, and illegals making up the majority here, their sport should be popular. I see it on Mexican TVs frequently. Why not. It's just one more sport to occupy the dumb American mind.

[Vic Romano]

Originally Posted by GulfCaptain

Southern California has the largest hispanic population in the United States.
Not by percentage, that crown would go to Puerto Rico (obviously), but in terms of sheer numbers, 4 million hispanics live in Los Angeles County alone, which is larger than the entire population of Puerto Rico.
In Orange County, there are 15 Spanish Radio Stations, and you tend to hear Spanish being spoken all the time in SouCal. Mexican restaurants also can be found everywhere throughout the area.

To those of you living in the area though, is the passion for soccer/football that is heavily prevalent in Mexico (and the rest of Latin America) also heavily prevalent among the large Mexican community in SouCal?
Are the Los Angeles Galaxy popular with this demographic, or any other soccer franchise in the area?

I did hear before that one city the MLS should expand to is Miami, since they'd be more accepting of a soccer franchise due to their large hispanic population down there.
However, SouCal has both a large hispanic population AND an MLS team. Can it's popularity of lack there of in SouCal prove anything for how it would work in Miami?

You are answering your own question and rambling so I don't even know what you're trying to ask.

[Beardown91737]

Soccer is an extremely popular participant sport in SoCal on both the youth and adult levels. Also the market is immense. MLS would have a market here with zero Latinos, though there will not be a way to prove that.

My daughter started playing soccer when she was 9 and still plays at 35. I didn't picture her playing soccer when she was little, not because she was a girl, but because I thought she was going to play basketball. She joined because one of her friends signed up. My son also played from age 6 to 11 and then switched to football. I also played in an adult league in SoCal with some other soccer parents.

MLS was in Miami at its inception.

[RudyOD]

Originally Posted by GulfCaptain

Southern California has the largest hispanic population in the United States.
Not by percentage, that crown would go to Puerto Rico (obviously), but in terms of sheer numbers, 4 million hispanics live in Los Angeles County alone, which is larger than the entire population of Puerto Rico.
In Orange County, there are 15 Spanish Radio Stations, and you tend to hear Spanish being spoken all the time in SouCal. Mexican restaurants also can be found everywhere throughout the area.

To those of you living in the area though, is the passion for soccer/football that is heavily prevalent in Mexico (and the rest of Latin America) also heavily prevalent among the large Mexican community in SouCal?
Are the Los Angeles Galaxy popular with this demographic, or any other soccer franchise in the area?

I did hear before that one city the MLS should expand to is Miami, since they'd be more accepting of a soccer franchise due to their large hispanic population down there.
However, SouCal has both a large hispanic population AND an MLS team. Can it's popularity of lack there of in SouCal prove anything for how it would work in Miami?

With the exception of Colombians, Miami's Latino population is mostly of Carribean descent. Carribean countries are ground zero for the recruitment of the next baseball superstar, and definitely baseball would be the national sport in any of those countries.

LA, and California in general, while having Latinos from all of Latin America, has a population where Mexican and Central Americans (El Salvador, Honduras, Guatamela, Nicaragua) clearly dominate. In these countries soccer is the national sport.

Latin Americans in the U.S. are a diverse community, and despite our share colonized language (Spanish, unless your Brazilian), it is best not to put us in one box.