Ok, so we all know this is obviously not the truth. But hear me out for a second.
Now, I do have to admit, this article might be a little biased as I played soccer nearly my entire youth. BUT I have this innate feeling that soccer is on the verge of blowing up in America. And no, that's not a joke.
Soccer will never compete with the NFL, at least here in the United States. But I think it seriously has the potential to compete with the NHL, NBA and maybe even MLB. For all of you soccer haters out there, I think you are hiding something. Come out of the figurative soccer closet and admit that it's really not all that bad. A great example of this is the recent success of the USA National team in the FIFA Confederations Cup. The US men's national team secured an outstanding upset of the #1 ranked team in the world, defeating Spain 2-0 in the semifinals. They moved on to face annual powerhouse Brazil as heavy underdogs in their first EVER finals appearance in a FIFA sanctioned tournament. They got off to a hot start and even took a 2-0 at halftime only to fall 3-2 at the end of the game.
With all of this being said, there was a sense of buzz throughout the sports world about, believe it or not, SOCCER BEING RELEVANT! As a lifetime soccer player, I enjoyed playing the game but I never really cared to watch it on TV. But now I have a larger sense of excitement for the game when it comes on TV than I ever have before, as do many fellow americans. What will it take for soccer to take off here? I'm not sure that can be answered with just one simple solution. I believe the biggest fuel to the fire will depend heavily on the performance of the US National team in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Just think about this, the entire nation got behind Michael Phelps in the Olympics last year as he went on to do something we have never seen before. If the men's soccer team goes on to exceed expectations and take the world by storm, will you really not watch? I'm willing to bet money you will, and you'll be cheering.
If this were to happen, it'll have a waterfall effect on the entire country. People will CARE. They won't care as much as they will about the NFL but that's not my point. My point is that it's not too crazy to think that more people will WANT to watch soccer. They will go by a jersey, go play FIFA (which is one of the greatest games of all time by the way) and they will talk about it at work. We've already seen more coverage than ever before, i.e. David Beckham in the MLS. Soccer will become relevant and that will boost our leverage to get premier players over to the states to play for the MLS clubs. It's a domino effect. Get some to come over, many will follow.
You just wait. Soccer IS on the verge. And when it does, you 'macho men' won't have to hide the fact that you've conformed to society and bashed soccer for years. You'll be able to live free and cheer hard for soccer here in America. It IS the most popular sport in the world.....
Only time will tell.
Word.
The Most Popular Sport in the United States is....Pipe Dreams.
ReplyDeleteAs a casual soccer fan (go Chelsea, Drogba would eat Rooney) I share some optimism or more, curiosity, about the state of soccer in this country. I think the problem is really more cultural, like Metric vs. English or Tea vs. Coffee; soccer is just not in America's blood.
Unfortunately, you also touched on probably the limit of soccer's popularity (professionally, that is) in this country when you brought up Michael Phelps. Comparing soccer to swimming may be sacrilege to soccer die-hards, but it is probably a solid association. Luckily, soccer also has the World Cup as well as the Olympics, but barring any huge social shift, soccer probably will continue to be wildly popular...but only every other summer.