Dear american football...

[jekelish]

Lol, you got me. That's what I get for estimating.

In fairness I assumed the same thing until I actually looked at the numbers.

 

[oldpinepoint]

Soccer will get close to football in popularity in about 30 years. The US demographics support it. Do you think all the Hispanics entering the USA like football? No my friends, they do not.

 

[Hoov50]

Comparing attendance is tricky. If Ohio State draws 65k to a game and we draw 50k which would be more impressive? Ohio State still had 15k more but their stadium would be half full as opposed to a sold out Carrier Dome. Maybe looking at % of capacity would be a more telling stat than simple attendance numbers. Kind of like SU being number one in basketball attendance when the capacity doubles and even triples many other venues.

As far as concussions, it is only a matter of time before soccer has similar issues to football. In fact in most studies soccer has the same number or more concussions than football. People notice it more in football because more people watch football so it is in the news more.

 

[BlazeOrange]

Football has nothing to worry about.

Baseball and hockey on the other hand...

Soccer is a complementary sport to hockey, basketball, and lacrosse. The objectives and strategies are somewhat similiar and many kids play two or three of those sports before eventually choosing where to specialize. In that regard, I don't think any of the options has an advantage over the others. Baseball is getting chipped away at from many directions, but still has a large (but aging) fanbase that continues to put more kids into it.

 

[jekelish]

To that point, this is a great article about ratings as they pertain to soccer. Really a must-read for everyone interested enough to be commenting on this topic. Note that after NFL and college football, the USA vs. Portugal game outdrew every other major sports program.

Yeah, let's not ignore that the US matches this World Cup have been absolutely decimating WatchESPN records. Not just for soccer, either. For any non-American football sports.

 

[jekelish]

Soccer is a complementary sport to hockey, basketball, and lacrosse. The objectives and strategies are somewhat similiar and many kids play two or three of those sports before eventually choosing where to specialize. In that regard, I don't think any of the options has an advantage over the others. Baseball is getting chipped away at from many directions, but still has a large (but aging) fanbase that continues to put more kids into it.

You're exactly right with your first point. People who resist soccer need to step back and look at the similarities to those sports you mention. Once you watch and see they are running plays similar to basketball, for instance, it gives you a while new perspective. Its such an exciting sport when you are familiar enough to be able to look a couple passes ahead and really see a play developing.

 

[Scooch]

It is, no doubt. But I'm just saying, people are foolish to suggest that soccer isn't growing tremendously as a sport in the US. If I'm not mistaken, it's the most widely played sport among kids in the country, and more and more kids will continue to stick with it as their primary sport as the MLS continues to grow, they see how much money can be made in top leagues, and injury concerns keep building for other sports. Not to mention the growing Latino population.

Youth participation doesn't have a strong correlation with overall popularity, fwiw.

Demographic trends work in soccer's favor, although from data I've seen most Hispanics prefer football, hoops, etc once they are 1-2 generations removed from immigration.

Not trying to knock soccer, but people thinking it'll be equal to the NFL anytime soon is looney tunes.

 

[Trueblue25]

Yeah I watched us lose, and then changed the channel.

 

[Bortukal]

Yeah, let's not ignore that the US matches this World Cup have been absolutely decimating WatchESPN records. Not just for soccer, either. For any non-American football sports.

Also worth noting that the Germany and Ghana games that appear on the chart in that article were games that took place during weekday afternoon and evening. Not typically strong viewing times.

ESPN has also received tremendous ratings for the past two Euros, and NBCSports is pulling decent numbers for EPL.

 

[Scooch]

I am not talking about popularity of basketball versus soccer in the US. Obviously, basketball is the #2 sport in the country. I'm just saying soccer is on the verge of taking the #3 spot and people who don't like soccer are dismissing that fact.

Sorry, not singling you out, but it's nowhere near the 3rd most popular sport in the US. It's still more akin to golf and hockey than football, baseball and hoops.

 

[BlazeOrange]

To that point, this is a great article about ratings as they pertain to soccer. Really a must-read for everyone interested enough to be commenting on this topic. Note that after NFL and college football, the USA vs. Portugal game outdrew every other major sports program.

It helps that the fanbase for one of the participating teams is literally the entire country. How are ratings for the non-USA games? I'm sure they're up from prior World Cups but will be interested to see if they will be at major sport event levels for the remainder of the tournament.

 

[CuseTroop]

I've hated soccer my whole life. Refused to watch a minute of it, called em all panzies, ect.

I was forced to watch the first game of this years cup (My espnradio feed cut to it, and I said "what the heck, if I have to listen to it, I might as well watch it") and was hooked. US winning a few certainly helped, but even if we had lost every game, and was knocked out last week, I would still be glued to this cup. It's insanely exciting. I was on the edge of my seat for 120 minutes today. No commercial breaks. Anything can happen. Straight awesomeness.

Bring on more Soccer. I need to find an EPL team, and an MLS team.

 

[Scooch]

To that point, this is a great article about ratings as they pertain to soccer. Really a must-read for everyone interested enough to be commenting on this topic. Note that after NFL and college football, the USA vs. Portugal game outdrew every other major sports program.

Women's figure skating during the Winter Olympics out-rates everything but the Super Bowl.

Don't confuse a great rating for one US team match with the overall TV audience for a sport.

Put it this way, if you added up all the TV viewing of MLB games on regional sports cable networks on that Sunday... well...

 

[Bortukal]

Sorry, not singling you out, but it's nowhere near the 3rd most popular sport in the US. It's still more akin to golf and hockey than football, baseball and hoops.

Based on what?

Attendance and ratings indicate it's well, well above golf and hockey, closer to basketball and baseball.

Man U and Real Madrid are playing a meaningless friendly this summer at The Big House. The stadium sold out in less than 24 hours.

 

[jekelish]

I've hated soccer my whole life. Refused to watch a minute of it, called em all panzies, ect.

I was forced to watch the first game of this years cup (My espnradio feed cut to it, and I said "what the heck, if I have to listen to it, I might as well watch it") and was hooked. US winning a few certainly helped, but even if we had lost every game, and was knocked out last week, I would still be glued to this cup. It's insanely exciting. I was on the edge of my seat for 120 minutes today. No commercial breaks. Anything can happen. Straight awesomeness.

Bring on more Soccer. I need to find an EPL team, and an MLS team.

Seattle is the closest club to you, and features Clint Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin, and averages better than 40k fans per game. Also, it's part owned by Drew Carey, who even if you don't think is funny, he's a Marine so as a military guy you should dig anyway. I say you adopt the Sounders.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

The pro-soccer bunch has been saying the same thing for years. Has it grown? Probably. Over the last 30 years so has NASCAR and lacrosse. Wasn't it supposed to explode after the last few World Cups as well? Hell, wasn't Pele' supposed to shoot soccer to the top of the charts? I will admit that the growing Latino population will help with soccer's interest. By that logic though, it should also help with baseball.

 

[CuseTroop]

Seattle is the closest club to you, and features Clint Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin, and averages better than 40k fans per game. Also, it's part owned by Drew Carey, who even if you don't think is funny, he's a Marine so as a military guy you should dig anyway. I say you adopt the Sounders.

1- I love Drew Carey
2- When and how the heck was he a Marine? lol
3- Lets go Sounders.

 

[Scooch]

Based on what? Attendance and ratings indicate it's well, well above golf and hockey, closer to basketball and baseball. Man U and Real Madrid are playing a meaningless friendly this summer at The Big House. The stadium sold out in less than 24 hours.

What's higher: 1.2 or 0.2? That's your comparable rating comparison. And the 1.2 is for 3X the number of games.

Attendance is nice, but not an indicator of the totality of popularity of a sport. Big House sold out for the NHL Winter Classic too.

 

[jekelish]

The pro-soccer bunch has been saying the same thing for years. Has it grown? Probably. Over the last 30 years so has NASCAR and lacrosse. Wasn't it supposed to explode after the last few World Cups as well? Hell, wasn't Pele' supposed to shoot soccer to the top of the charts? I will admit that the growing Latino population will help with soccer's interest. By that logic though, it should also help with baseball.

Uh, it HAS exploded compared to where it was 20 years ago. In 20 years, MLS has gone from not existing to outdrawing the NBA and attracting some pretty big foreign stars. How is that not exploding?

 

[Trueblue25]

The day american kids put down baseball mitts and the pig skin for soccer balls is the day I consider moving out

 

[jekelish]

1- I love Drew Carey
2- When and how the heck was he a Marine? lol
3- Lets go Sounders.

Drew Carey, Marine:

 

[SoBeCuse]

Soccer is infinitely more exciting than baseball.

I'll echo this. No brainer in my book. The endurance soccer entails compared to the long games of baseball sitting/standing around...laughable. I played baseball too up until late H.S. in competitive and powerhouse schools.

 

[jekelish]

The day american kids put down baseball mitts and the pig skin for soccer balls is the day I consider moving out

I'm sure you can root for Buffalo in Canada. See ya!

 

[Bortukal]

Big House sold out for the NHL Winter Classic too.

Well yes. From what I understand, hockey is somewhat of a big deal in Michigan. Nobody would deny that.

 

[CuseTroop]

Drew Carey, Marine:

You sir, just blew my mind