Question for soccer fans....

[DowntownDawg]

....like everyone else, I have heretofore cared nothing about soccer but enjoyed the hell out of the end of that match. I agree that there is something to the sport and it deserves a better reception.

That said, how in the hell is it going to catch on in America? Apparently, the best players play in Europe, and nobody gives a crap about Major League Soccer that I can tell.

As a fan who would like to get into soccer, I don't have any geographical team to pull for, the games are never on tv, and I don't care enough to adopt a European team and follow them at 3 in the morning on some channel I probably don't get.

It seems to me that the key to soccer catching on is to allow colleges to field men's teams. Does this not happen because of Title IX?? I know there are club teams. If SEC soccer got big, it seems like that would really help things.

 

[gtowndawg]

That's why the world cup is so big. Since I don't follow an EPS team or MLS team there is no next year, only next world cup. However, I've started to enjoy the qualifying process much more which gives you something to watch between cups.

 

[patdog]

but I try to catch the USnaitonal team pretty much every time they play, which is usually about a dozen times per year.

 

[DowntownDawg]

And is it the same team as the world cup team?

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

The NFL and College Football drown everything else out as it is. There is only so much room for sports entertainment and Football is and always will be king. It also puts a hamper on advertising, since there are no breaks, which lessens the major networks' interest in broadcasting the sport prime time.

However, I do see the popularity growing every passing World Cup, especially with youth soccer in America becoming almost as big a youth pastime as baseball. With each passing generation of kids who played soccer growing up, more fans will be created.

Further, the MLS is relatively strong all things considered, but just like Hockey will never surpass football here, the same holds true for pro soccer anywhere but Europe. Europe is king of professional soccer and always will be. Even soccer crazy countries like Brazil and Argentina cant match Europe, which is why you see the great Brazilians like Kaka and Robinho playing professionally in Italy and Spain.

 

[Tito Cheeseburger Jr]

It will be tough because the sports market is already so saturated here. But it will still make gains as the makeup of the country changes and baseball fans start aging. MLB almost seems like it's trying to drive off young fans. Has any kid under 10 watched the 9th inning of a World Series game (except maybe on the west coast)? Will a 10 year old with a modern attention span, when he gets to be around 30, willingly sit and watch Tony Larussa change relievers over and over and over?

You can watch the best league (English) in HD on ESPN2 on Saturday mornings at 8 or 9 am.

 

[jakldawg]

(meaning actual varsity-type NCAA teams)
Observe: the men's soccer bracket.
In the SEC, only UK and USC have teams (and they both play in C-USA).

 

[o_1984Dawg]

The MLS is growing and getting better. Like I've said before, it's not going to turn into the EPL overnight. If you look at the difference between where it is now and where it was 5 or 10 years ago, there's been improvement in the quality and the interest.

The television excuse just doesn't fly. MLS games are on tv a lot and in primetime. If you don't want to pay the $5-$15 for the sports packages that include Fox Soccer and GolTV, it's still shown on ESPN plenty. And FYI European games are in the afternoon. Their midday saturday and sunday games are still just at 7AM here.

Pick an MLS team and/or an EPL team and see if you can't follow them for a season.

Edit: And ESPN3 shows a lot of games online from several different leagues.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

The league system for it in most other countries is not communist at all. If you do well in your league, you move up to the next. If you suck, you go down. Theoretically, you can start up a soccer club with some buddies and after many years your team can be playing at the highest level (granted, there are other issues such as stadium size, finances, and the like), just like how a small company you start can become a Fortune 500 company after many years of growth. It doesn't matter in the MLB and the NFL. You could start up your own team with the best players from around the MLB and your team will never get invited into MLB while the Baltimore Orioles will be in the league aGAIN next year.

 

[patdog]

Plus, they play "friendlies" to get ready for qualifying or World Cup games. For instnace in the last couple of months, the USA has played the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Australia and Turkey in friendlies. Also, there are continential tournaments every two years and we played in the Confederations Cup last year, which is the champions of each continent in a tournament. Usually the team makeup is pretty much the same as the World Cup team, but in some friendlies we'll play the B team and in a lot of friendlies there will be a couple of young players who get a shot.

 

[af102]

Freaking Title IX- it served its purpose it was intended for, now its just holding things back.

College men's soccer can't really grow because of it. I agree that college soccer is the key to growing more fans. The MLS isn't ever going to cover the whole country (unless they take over/create a 2nd division). More men's college teams means more oppurtunities to keep players over here longer, and also creates more fans early on. Some american soccer fans (eurosnobs) think that college soccer is not a good thing, but I hold the opposite view.

We need college soccer just like the NHL needs college hockey. Some kids are good enough straight out of Academies/HS/Junior leagues to make the jump, but some need a little bit more time to develope in a non-professional environment. This also allows kids to have a degree in case soccer doesn't work out in the long run. I do think we need to get rid of the MLS draft and let kids sign with whatever club they want to. The MLSmight have to set some kind of limit on the number you could sign.

Many European coaches have commented on college players and how they usually work harder coming out of school than the kids that signed really young. They also say that the upper teams in college soccer would be on par or betterwith the third division teams in England.

 

[Agentdog]

The only way it will grow in the U.S. is if more people play as kids. I think you are seeing that right now with the continual growth of US Youth Soccer. As those kids grow into adults, they will have an understanding of the game and it's intricacy. Then interest will grow. Right now, you have generations here in the U.S. in which very few played the game. Therefore don't understand the situations, strategies, and etc. and see a 1-0 or 0-0 score and that is all. Soccer is kinda like golf as far as interest in watching on TV. As a kid, I never understood why anyone would want to watch golf on TV. Then I got into golf as an adult and so it went....... Same with soccer. My kids began to play. The league was begging for coaches. I volunteered and began to study the game. I learned the intriquies, strategies, techniques.....etc. I love it and so do my kids. It is ashame but the soccer association that I am involved has a number of coaches (very good I may add) that never played the game. Which goes back to above....generations that have never played. That will become less and less of a problem in the future and the sport will gain support here.

 

[o_1984Dawg]

Not arguing for Title IX but I don't think it should be the scapegoat for soccer not being more popular here either.
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