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Message: [QUOTE="billsin01, post: 1080251, member: 837"] I'm not sure if this is directed at me since I feel we've had a pretty good discourse on the subject and since I think some people are stretching a bit to suggest that the world cup isn't absolutely killing it ratings and popularity-wise. I don't think there's much doubt soccer is growing, though I'd suggest that sports in general seem to be constantly gaining in the public consciousness. I mean, I literally do presentations to corporate groups in b'more where everyone is wearing a purple ray rice jersey. It's unfathomable. And God forbid your kid is a halfway decent athlete -- you'll spend the next 10 years trying to avoid travelling to lacrosse play days in Pa. where you have to listen to lax dads tell war stories and take the stupid games way too seriously. It's unreal. I mention that b/c I think soccer growing makes sense given the rapid expanse of accessible media and the general penchant this country has to spend a ton of time watching sports. But I think there are pretty legitimate obstacles soccer has to clear to put itself squarely in NBA/NHL/MLB/college football/college hoops territory in terms of day-to-day popularity and revenue generation. I don't think that's being a hater or speaking in generalities. The best soccer in the world tends to be played overseas. That has to change (or at least the perception has to). I'm not being ethnocentric here -- just pointing out that following random EPL teams is fine, but not a recipe for massive, expansive popularity in the US. Soccer has to maintain it's integrity while adding in an absurd amount of advertising. One thing all the aforementioned leagues do is generate a ton of ad revenue by taking a ton of tv timeouts. Not sure how that works currently, but I'd imagine it will change the current setup of soccer, which is awesome (two running time halves). And I think they need to be able to capitalize on the appeal of this world cup. I think the soccer fans here tend to take this for granted. I think US soccer can certainly do this, but it's not as simple as watching the fans and cash role in the next 4 years. I think those are challenges and I'd argue the timeline is longer than 10 years. But it's tough to argue it isn't growing. [/QUOTE]

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