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People in the United States and Canada are raised on American and Canadian gridiron football, while the rest of the world is interested in football, or what is called soccer in Canada and the USA.
That said, I think there will be a demand for soccer in North America in the future. Maybe not as popular as gridiron, basketball, or baseball; but it may become as popular as hockey, golf, or college sports in the foreseeable future.
How do you define catching on? Judging by viewing numbers of the World Cup, it definitely has caught on, with numbers surpassing all championship events other than American football. Then again, our own national league (MLS) does not exactly receive high TV ratings. However, that does not mean the sport is not of interest to people here - just that their interest is fractured. Many follow the Premier League in England, others follow the Mexican leagues, and others still support clubs and leagues in countries throughout the world.
Even in MLS' current state, you could say that it is within striking distance of the NHL and putting its sights on MLB/NBA in its long-term plans.
Because 95 percent of the time the American media tells you not to like soccer. Notice when the media tells the public it is ok to like soccer (the world cup last summer) people go crazy for it. We live in a country full of bandwagon sports fans. I cannot tell you how many of my supposed soccer hating friends would call me on the phone last summer (3 or 4 times a day) asking me questions about the sport and loving every second of the competition.
Bottom line is the American sports media is controlled by old, grumpy, baby-boomer aged sports writers who rip on soccer every chance they get and praise football, baseball, basketball, and NASCAR. Soccer fans in this country are very young (avg. age of world cup viewers was mid 30's, compared to 50-something for the Super Bowl/ world series). So, I expect as this generation gets older and the boomers die out that soccer will be a mainstream sport in this country.
Oh, and by the way...MLS has already surpassed NHL and NBA is average attendance. But you never hear about these sorts of things because every other idiot sports fan in this country assumes nobody watches soccer.
People always gauge the success of soccer by a hypothetical pivot point at which millions of people suddenly change their mind about the sport. I'll never understand that. It has grown steadily by leaps and bounds for many decades. Is it that hard to see?
It has caught on. It has the highest participation among youth, the MLS is growing season-by-season and is the best ran sports league in the US, we have players playing all over the world and even at the top levels, and our national team is among the Top 20 teams in the world.
It has caught on. It has the highest participation among youth, the MLS is growing season-by-season and is the best ran sports league in the US, we have players playing all over the world and even at the top levels, and our national team is among the Top 20 teams in the world.
What more do you want?
your right for a 'lesser' or a young soccer nation i think your on your way to good things, it may take a while but britain has had a century and a half to get to where it is now
Soccer has to overcome a lack of tradition in the US, compared to other professional sports. And of course, MLS is improving but it's still not a top notch league.
Still, the game seems to be developing a niche among Americans. Plus, immigrants love it. To me, it's the most exciting sport to play or to watch.
I remember hearing this when I was a kid too. Is this not because of the limited/cheap equipment required to play soccer, the ability to have kids play at a super young age, and the crossover appeal to both boys and girls?
I don't have a strong stance on whether or not soccer is on the way up in the USA, but I don't know if youth participation is a fair metric by which to illustrate this. Just imo
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