Is it me or is pro soccer just never going to fly in the US?

[bull]

Granted we have a lot of members on this site from all parts of the world who are probably interested but even with all the publicity they're giving the World Cup in the US this year I've yet to hear ANYONE talk about professional soccer other than on TV. Why are they pushing it? People used to say that once these soccer league kids get older it'll start taking off but they've been saying that for probably 20 years. These "kids" are all 30+ now and still no one seems to care. I'm sure money's got a lot to do with it but really, does anyone in the US give a rip about pro soccer? I know I don't. Do you?

[Neal_J]

Soccer, like the metric system, won't ever fly in the U.S.  

Futbol has too much pointless running around and, ultimately, it's BORING!~

[0X01B8]

You're right.

As it pertains to TV:  It's not packaged the way we're used to watching TV, with 7 minutes of drama followed by 3 minutes of commercials followed by 5 minutes of action/drama, followed by 3 minutes of commercials, etc.

Soccer cheerleaders are way ahead of the curve, though.
Especially in South America.

[bull]

All I see is a bunch of goofballs running around in circles for hours and when it's all said and done the score is 1-0 and the fans tear the place down.

[Ponch ®]

soccer CAN be boring, and I can see why some people just don't get it. but by the same token...baseball is just as boring (if not more) to watch, and it's supposedly the national past time. 

I'd rather watch a 0-0 soccer game than a 3 1/2 hour baseball game that ends 1-0.

[b5blue]

All I see is a bunch of goofballs running around in circles for hours and when it's all said and done the score is 1-0 and the fans tear the place down.

It works for NASCAR bull! 

[TK73]

After a year of Pro Soccer in Seattle it is getting a lot of attention up here...

[bull]

After a year of Pro Soccer in Seattle it is getting a lot of attention up here...

I guess we're getting it here in Portland too. Next year maybe? Can't wait.

Baseball is a snoozer too IMO. There's something very wrong with any sport where the only thing you have to look forward to is a single score. Especially one where the players expend enough energy to run a small town.

[ChgrSteve67]

Make the field 1/3 the size and give the players UFC gloves.

A little blood will increase the popularity.

[Long Island RT]

I think it would be so much better if they changed the rules a little. The roving offsides is ridiculous. Also, the fact that you can win a game after somebody fakes a fall and the team gets to kick the penalty with whoever was on the field is retarded.

[Darkman]

Originating from a continent that is soccer mad (Europe), I was never too keen on it, nor could I ever get enthusuastic about it no matter how hard I tried. 2 Halves at 45mins each and the possibility of no score WTF? Now Aussie Rules and American Football are the sports I love! Grown men pounding the snot out of each other and driving themselves into the ground with bone crunching tackles is what I call entertaining (even if you Americans have to wear pads and a helmet  ). I was a big 49ers fan for many years (and as much as I hate to admit it, a Buffalo Bills fan too  ) John Madden 

In comparison soccer is a bit 

[Mike DC]

 
IMHO the preferences for pro sports in different countries do not follow rational explanations.


Most of the excuses for why soccer won't take off in the USA get shot down by the fact that basketball & football & hockey are flying here.  Rectangular field, the timing setup, the speed of the game, the opportunities for kids to get into it at a young age, etc.  Soccer just isn't our flavor of beverage and there's no logical reason beyond that IMHO. 



WRC Rally racing is the soccer of motorsports.  It seems like everyone on earth loves it except us.  And we would appear to be one of the countries most predisposed to like it out of anywhere.  We have a great setup to breed rallying fans with cheap gas, common vehicle usage, and wide open spaces all over the place.  Instead we are the biggest fans of contained paved tracks out of anyone.  NASCAR, drag racing, etc.  This is as inexplicable as America's indifferent attitude towards soccer IMHO.

[bakerhillpins]

Most of the excuses for why soccer won't take off in the USA get shot down by the fact that basketball & football & hockey are flying here.  Rectangular field, the timing setup, the speed of the game, the opportunities for kids to get into it at a young age, etc.  Soccer just isn't our flavor of beverage and there's no logical reason beyond that IMHO. 

WRC Rally racing is the soccer of motorsports.  It seems like everyone on earth loves it except us.  And we would appear to be one of the countries most predisposed to like it out of anywhere.  We have a great setup to breed rallying fans with cheap gas, common vehicle usage, and wide open spaces all over the place.  Instead we are the biggest fans of contained paved tracks out of anyone.  NASCAR, drag racing, etc.  This is as inexplicable as America's indifferent attitude towards soccer IMHO.

Guess I am the odd ball in the bunch. I enjoy watching soccer here in the US and greatly enjoy watching WRC. (Those guys can drive the snot out of anything and frankly have huge brass ones ta boot.) I also watch US Football and Ice Hockey. Baseball not so much, Ill avoid the soapbox comments.

I think it all boils down to Advertising. TV supports anything that supports its revenue base ->advertising. WRC/Soccer and to some extent Ice Hockey have all suffered from the inability of the broadcaster to charge for traditional revenue streams. Aka Commercials. (though this has changed in Ice Hockey) They don't see it as making them money so they naturally don't do it. Soccer doesn't allow for commercial brakes and WRC is a 3 day event with constantly changing tracks so frankly I don't blame them. WRC is a much different experience in person than just boiled down to the highlight shows.

Anyhow, I actually don't like going to televised Football games because the game is constantly interrupted by commercial breaks where the teams are standing on the field playing with themselves. Totally destroys the flow of the game. At least at home I don't get to see that cuz I press the skip fwd button on the DVR.  Which brings up another point, which is that I suspect we are in for some changes to the TV-commercial partnership thanks to DVRs.

Closed track racing allows cameras to be setup and commercial breaks so it works for them. Note that closed course MC racing isn't shown much either, I guess because the races are so short that they can't build up an hour show? 

[chargerboy69]

Make the field 1/3 the size and give the players UFC gloves.

A little blood will increase the popularity.

Ahh yes. . . . . Maybe throw a few alligators on the field.  Or maybe a couple trap doors with lions dens.  Now I would watch that sh!t.

[moparstuart]

youth soccer is huge  , so it may catch on some day

[chargerboy69]

youth soccer is huge  , so it may catch on some day

It was when I was a kid too.  I played for 10 years in a huge youth soccer league. I am now in my mid 30's. 

[Ponch ®]

You guys really want to know why we don't like soccer, WRC, F1, etc.?

It's because we don't like not being the best at something (or at least THINKING we're the best - see baseball). People play basketball and baseball all over the world, yet when the Lakers or the Yankees win we automatically anoint them "World Champions".  Hockey started losing popularity as soon as the Russians/Europeans started coming over to the NHL en masse and their native countries started winning major international competitions.

As I'm typing this, the US soccer team is getting its ass kicked by Slovenia(!), and there are no Americans in WRC or F1 (and Scott Speed failed miserably). If we're not kicking ass, we ignore it or cop out by saying its boring, too convoluted, etc...

[bakerhillpins]

As I'm typing this, the US soccer team is getting its ass kicked by Slovenia(!), and there are no Americans in WRC or F1 (and Scott Speed failed miserably). If we're not kicking ass, we ignore it or cop out by saying its boring, too convoluted, etc...

Bummer, Was hoping that I didn't read that about the US Soccer. 

As far as WRC is concerned, Ken Block is participating. While he is not winning right now his performance is expected because he is in his first year. I think it says a lot that Ford is quite involved with WRC as well.

[Ponch ®]

Bummer, Was hoping that I didn't read that about the US Soccer. 

mounting a comeback! We were down 0-2 at the half, just tied it with 10 min to go!

[Hemidog]

What was that last goal annulment? It wasn't offside.  

[Ponch ®]

What was that last goal annulment? It wasn't offside.  

it was bullshit, that's what it was. 

[bakerhillpins]

What was that last goal annulment? It wasn't offside.  

it was bullshit, that's what it was. 

[Mike DC]

I think it all boils down to Advertising. TV supports anything that supports its revenue base ->advertising. WRC/Soccer and to some extent Ice Hockey have all suffered from the inability of the broadcaster to charge for traditional revenue streams. Aka Commercials. (though this has changed in Ice Hockey) They don't see it as making them money so they naturally don't do it. Soccer doesn't allow for commercial brakes and WRC is a 3 day event with constantly changing tracks so frankly I don't blame them. WRC is a much different experience in person than just boiled down to the highlight shows.

Okay . . . but then how/why is WRC racing huge in any other country?  

I'm saying the bottom line is still the same.  The rest of the world is huge about a certain sport and yet we're indifferent.  As for the commercials, I agree that's relevant.  However the USA's most beloved televised sports didn't always have the constant commercial breaks they do now.  Soccer, baseball, football, WRC, and NASCAR were all around and growing in popularity long before their events had been rebuilt around TV coverage.  Some took off here in the USA and others did not.

--------------------------------------

You guys really want to know why we don't like soccer, WRC, F1, etc.?

It's because we don't like not being the best at something (or at least THINKING we're the best - see baseball). People play basketball and baseball all over the world, yet when the Lakers or the Yankees win we automatically anoint them "World Champions".  Hockey started losing popularity as soon as the Russians/Europeans started coming over to the NHL en masse and their native countries started winning major international competitions.

I sort of agree and sort of not. We like to crown some of our teams "world champions" partly because they don't play overseas much  It's hard to create a league that plays in Pittsburgh on Tuesday and Berlin on Wednesday.  Of course our leagues are locally oriented.  And with basketball it's because we actually were amazing on the worldwide scale for years and the perception has not left us yet.  "World Champions" has advertising hyperbole in the way that "American Champions" does not.  

With ice hockey I don't think the interest peaked & fell again over the international influx of players into the NHL.  The timing conincides with it but I think it was just a temporary rise in popularity before it fell.  The sport deveoped an image in the 1970s like "Slap Shot" and it was another few decades before that image was ripe for a shift.  Then the advent of rollerblades in the early 1990s caused a boom in kids playing rollerhockey, which raised the popularity of ice hockey within a few years.  So ice hockey boomed and then it fell again.  

Ice hockey is a regional sport at the core.  Hot climates just don't take to it like colder areas and probably never will.  Even when a colder area does not necessarily have several months of ice on the ground every year this is still the case.    

[bakerhillpins]

I think it all boils down to Advertising. TV supports anything that supports its revenue base ->advertising. WRC/Soccer and to some extent Ice Hockey have all suffered from the inability of the broadcaster to charge for traditional revenue streams. Aka Commercials. (though this has changed in Ice Hockey) They don't see it as making them money so they naturally don't do it. Soccer doesn't allow for commercial brakes and WRC is a 3 day event with constantly changing tracks so frankly I don't blame them. WRC is a much different experience in person than just boiled down to the highlight shows.

Okay . . . but then how/why is WRC racing huge in any other country?  

I'm saying the bottom line is still the same.  The rest of the world is huge about a certain sport and yet we're indifferent.  As for the commercials, I agree that's relevant.  However the USA's most beloved televised sports didn't always have the constant commercial breaks they do now.  Soccer, baseball, football, WRC, and NASCAR were all around and growing in popularity long before their events had been rebuilt around TV coverage.  Some took off here in the USA and others did not.

I think it all boils down to Air Time, on the Net or on TV, or back in the day on radio or newspaper. Rally isn't that popular because Rally isn't/wasn't given any air time. I only picked up on it while I had Speedvision (Before it was FOXed into NASCAR/SPEED TV and went to crap, Anyone remember MTV circa 1981, I digress) and then lost it again until I was fortunate enough to get HD Theater. Baseball, football were big on the radio and in stuff like games, trading cards... etc. It had much more marketing. And god knows the US is a sucker when it comes to marketing. While we didn't invent advertising, we certainly did perfect it 

Anyhow, yes to specifically look at TV you have a point, but I didn't mean to suggest just TV, rather media in general over our history. I suspect that those sports got more "Air Time" in other countries and hence became more popular.

Don't forget that popularity also stems from economic conditions. Its cheap to play soccer/cricket/baseball/basketball. A stick, ball, net, and something on the ground. US Football and Ice Hockey are expensive to setup with all the gear. Poor countries pick up what they can afford to play.

[bull]

What was that last goal annulment? It wasn't offside.  

it was bullshit, that's what it was. 

Well, now people are starting to care. Everyone understands BS calls by the refs. Maybe it was engineered to piss us off so we'll spend gobs of money on pro soccer and show 'em next time.