Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred314X
It won't be any different this year than it was for any previous World Cup. People who want to continue following the game will. Everyone else won't. Past history indicates that soccer is not going to pick up major amounts of new fans in the long run. Supporters of the game deny this, but if they were right, it would have become a major sport in the United States years ago.
Soccer rides on a rollercoaster in this country. And it's going to continue to do so. Anyone who wants to insist that it will attain the level of interest enjoyed by baseball, football and basketball is welcome to keep the faith, but that's not going to change reality.
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Actually, interest in the game increases after every World Cup. What happens is that people that have never really followed the game before decide to start watching games and guess what? They decide they like it and actually become a fan. I know for a fact it happens and have witnessed it over the last 3 weeks.
Are there going to be millions of new soccer fans now in the US? No. But, there will be thousands and even tens of thousands of new fans that either just decide to be casual fans that pick up a game every now and again or there will be those that decide they really like the sport and become real fans. It's just a matter of odds that this happens.
This World Cup gained more interest than ever before. In 2006, we had official watch parties in Kansas City with about 300 people. This year we had over 12,000 people at the official watch party with dozens of other smaller watch parties going on in the city.
I personally know people that have become fans of the sport in the last 3 weeks. I just sent out an e-mail to 4 friends that were quizzing me about how to follow the sport and what to watch for much like the original poster did in this thread. This is 4 people that have been strictly baseball and football fans their entire life.
I have 2 friends that just 5 years ago hated soccer. They bashed the sport and use to make fun of me for watching. I finally drug them to a Wizards game and they had a blast. Both of them are now season ticket holders and don't miss a national team game for the world.
You may think that soccer isnt gaining popularity in this country but statistics and the MLS success proves you wrong.
Are there millions who just jumped on the bandwagon during the World Cup? Absolutely. It's no different than the millions of people that only watch 1 NFL game a year, the Super Bowl.
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