Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Why do you think soccer is not big in the US? I'm not talking about High School kids, because there have always been teams, but why don't people in the US go nuts for soccer the way they do for hockey, baseball, football, and basketball? If you are in a bar in the US, one thing you will never see is a buch of drunks going ape-shit over soccer.

Cultural thing, I guess? They already have their favourite sports...

Because americans are crazy...that's why!! They rather see a stupid baseball game to see a soccer game! : ok:


I'm kidding!!!


I'm with voodoo...it's a cultural thing! If an american come to Brazil, all he is gonna see on sports shows is soccer, soccer, soccer, a little bit of volley and formula 1, and more soccer and more soccer!!! It sucks!! I don't like soccer, except on World cups because it has 4 years of break between one cup and another!!

But why is that? Soccer is just as exciting, more so than many sports popular in the US.

It's all diving and acting now!

All their popular games were invented in U.S itself - Basketball, Baseball... Weird.

Soccer is not big in the states for the very simple reason that it is not shown on TV. Once an advertising deal is struck that allows for the whole game to be shown (without advert breaks during the actual game) it will become huge. Couple that with the ever improving national team and i predict soccer will be as big as any other sport in the US within 25 years.

You couldn't be more right about that!

I think it could be a geographical thing, and perhaps a patriotic thing too, and could also be historical!! Geographical: The US, are quite a distance away from Europe, where soccer is most popular, so in the past (when communication wasn't as developed as it is now) they maybe didn't have the sort of access required to Europe and to a lesser extent South America, to really build a love for the game. Patriotic: This is a bit of a stereotype, I know, but the Americans are largely a patriotic nation and are more partial to their own sports i.e Baseball, Basketball etc. Historical: This one's quite simple, the US wouldn't have even of been an established nation when the game was invented!!

Brazil is also a lot far from Europe and it's the most popular sport here. Japan is also pretty far from europe and soccer is a fever there.

Brazil wasn't barely a country too when the game was invented and, either way is the most popular thing here, just so you know, we are going trought a very difficult time here in Brazil, specially with our politics...they a stealing a lot of money from us and this shit just get more smelly every single day...but no one go to streets to show what's going on on their minds...but people do go to the streets to celebrate a championship won by a team or just to trhow stones on the visitand bus while they are arriving the stadiums...

I meant, people here in Brazil cares more with Soccer then life itself!

And it isn't a brazilian game, the place where it was invented is sooo far away from us and when it was invented we weren't a country(actually, I still think we are not!!).

I still think is because of what 2NaFish said.

soccer will never be huge in the U.S. it is shown on TV all the time. but no one watches. and no one talks about it.   

it's primarily cultural. there's major history behind sports, and around the world people are born and raised on soccer. in the U.S., it's baseball and football.

baseball is known as "america's pastime". nothing can replace that. people have grown up watching sports with their families, and the landscape of sports is set. it is difficult to penetrate that market with something new.

and in alot of people's opinion, soccer is a boring sport to watch. i love soccer and played my whole life, and i would be thrilled to see it catch on here in the states. but even i have to admit that other sports are much more exciting.

although soccer is not popular in the states, there are tons of bars with people watching games and going ape shit on a regular basis. certain bars all over the country show games from europe. those places are packed - frequently around 7 or 8 in the morning - with die hard soccer fans.

and during the world cup, tons of regular bars will be packed. and if the U.S. wins some games, it will be nuts. i watched most games in 2002 from a bar with a bunch of friends. and it was always packed. the germany game was insane and it was around a 7am start on a weekday.

in 2006, the games will be on in the afternoon U.S. time, so even more people will watch.

Baseball and Football are not that exciting, and the matches could last forever.

BTW, the real football is what north-americans calls soccer. :P

I hope America never, ever likes football

With all their idiot billionaires they'd buy every decent player and suck Europe's leagues dry

They can have their fuckin' awful basketball and we'll keep the football

Look at this and tell me: isn't he great?!?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1483670761495213547

Wrong. There's A LOT of brazilians players in Europe but we still have a kick ass national league (I mean, speaking about quality of players).

All USA would do is to take off the foreign players from the european leagues. :P

Bullshit. The reason americans dont watch soccer is because it sucks. The games are too long, and there's not enough action. People dont understand the rules because its never been a major sport here. No one wants to watch a 1-0 score that takes 4 hours. Soccer had its one chance at success in america in 1999 during the womens world cup. Millions watched it, and everyone thought it was the next major sport. They even got their own soccer league, which went broke in about a year. People didn't seem to realize that we were only watching to see hot pieces of ass kick a ball around. When that novelty wore off(quickly), no one gave a shit anymore. It could possibly get popular again(womens soccer). Hell will freeze over before mens soccer is popular in the U.S.

Hahahahaha
Dude, you don't know what are you talkin about.
Yeah, 4 hours...  ::)

And it sucks, right. The rest of the world likes this game because it sucks. :P

Actually.. I think soccer is gaining popularity in the U.S....

The teams are getting better.. the MLS is getting bigger (i love the fucking home depot center!)... basically the core u.s soccer fan base is growing. the AYSO (youth soccer in america) is the fastest growing youth league.. and you'd figure that at least SOME of those kids would get hooked on soccer (its how it happened to me..)...

In 25 years I think we'll be surprised how soccer stands in the U.S.

Apparently you didn't let my previous post sink in. Let me say it a different way: Elementary school kids seem to enjoy soccer, and shitloads of kids that age join soccer teams. 5-10 years later, they consider the sport irrelevant. If soccer is ever gonna go mainstream, they're gonna have to figure out what happens to the young athlete's mindset and feelings for the game in that 5-10 year timeframe. : ok:

Hm.. maybe you didn't let my post sink in... I never said all of the kids who join AYSO are gonna be soccer freaks.. but certainly some of them. Maybe a low percentage, but seeing as its the fastest growning youth sport... its more and more people potientally. How did I become a soccer fan? By learning the rules of it as a kid.. and well.. growning up playing it.

Soccer is gaining its own niche in the U.S... and its growing.

you're correct. but so is jameslofton29.

soccer is huge in the U.S. - youth, high schools, etc.? (the term "soccer mom" exists for a reason.) and it continues to grow.

BUT it has made little progress in popularity on the professional level.

i played soccer for most of my life - i'm even in a men's league right now. alot of my friends played soccer for years. i love the sport and have alot of respect for it.

but none of us us have ever sat and watched an entire MLS game. and all of us would prefer to watch an american football game over soccer anyday. it just doesn't compare to the action and excitement.

Wish in one hand, and shit in the other. See which one gets filled first. : ok:

lol.. we'll see...

I think a lot has to do with the fact (that someone already mentioned) that soccergames can go on for 90 minutes and have no goals... And we might still call it a good game.

Another thing is that in soccer you play a 45-minute half with a continuous clock. This means that tv-companies don't get to show commercials evey 10 minutes like in other sports. Or if they do, you could miss the single goal of the whole game. And if there's very little money to be made... the big tv-stations won't be interested. And maybe the Americans just don't have an attention span long enough for the game. I don't know. And then there's the culture thing. People watch what their fathers watched before them.. and their fathers...

It's what you call soccer that is the real "Football" here in Norway. What you call Football, is american football here. Not real football, if you don't understand.

Yeah, but "soccer" is the real football, since you can't touch your hands on the ball, just the Foot...see, FOOT on the BALL = FOOTBALL!

American Football its ridiculous, I don't know how someone can like that...it's boring and doesn't make any sense...and it's not FOOTball...

Someone could explain to me why the americans decided to call this "American Football" as just "Football" and change the name of the real FOOTBALL to Soccer?

Whats with the time?? 90 minutes too long??
aparently no one saw the Game Real Madrid Vs manchester United game 00 I think, the score was  0-0 but what a freaking game, was one of the best. Even for a 0-0 draw. No goals, emotions, two great teams, only one will pass, you want your fave team to win, the expectation is high, and in the second leage Man U vs Real, Madrid kicked ManU ass with an awsome play by Redondo which I think is one of the greatest plays of all time in Europe competitions  : ok:

I think that US dont like football cause they think is boring, and how is not gonna be boring if the MLS have some teams and they have no B league, so the team that looses the most has to go down and play with less budget. etc etc, and the fans doesn't get encourage to watch their teams go down. Thats passion! cry because your team was defeated and the next season is not gonna be in the 1st division, I think US must start there, preparing divisions  :peace:

there was an article in a newspaper here last week in which americans voted football the most exciting sport, even more than theyr own "football" and baseball and other sports

to the dude that said a game lasts 4 hrs, get your facts right before you start talking crap, and saying it had its chance in 99 when the womens world cup was on, well go back 4 more years to when the real world cup was on and see how popular it was

even if there is a deal done and football becomes very popular over there, it wont suck all the good players out of europe, sure they want mony but they want to compete for trophies that actually mean something, otherwise all the good players would already be playing in saudi arabia and other arab countries where there is hugh money, when the players are past theyr best theyl move on for the money

and finally to those of you who call it soccer, well the official name is "Association Football"

you have a link for that? cause i don't believe it. unless they polled a bunch of 40 year old women or kids under 10, there's no way that's possible.

well it was in a paper, but il have a look

cant find the what i was looking for but i did find this study carried out by americans

http://www.coloradorapids.com/news/newsdetails.asp?ID=1563

That is a load of crap. It is well known how the mens world cup in the 90's got shitty ratings. All the sponsors lost millions of dollars. The womens world cup was much more well received than the mens. But as mentioned earlier, it had the piece of ass factor going for it.

ratings for soccer are below just about every other sport in the U.S., including bowling and ice skating.

and one thing i've noticed listening to sports talk radio is that people don't just dislike soccer, they actually HATE it. it's sad to say cause like i said i'm a fan, but it will be very difficult to change the perception in the U.S. people will not buy into a game that usually only has 1 or 2 goals.

and the fact that the world cup, the greatest championship in world, can be (and was) awarded on penalty shots, didn't help the game any here in the U.S.  cause that is just ridiculous, and it made the game seem like even more of a joke.

if you dont wana believe thats your problem not mine, but i know what i read  : ok:

Maybe if you got like a 100 points for each goal scored and they'd start from like 50.. So at least the games would be 50-50.. Or in a dream game 350-250? Would it gather more interest then?

What are you talking about? Football takes 90 or so minutes. 4 hours?  :hihi:

i think there was some sarcasm in the original comment.....i.e. a 2 hour game FEELS like 4 hours.

and it's not necessarily the lack of high scoring games, but the limited number of scoring chances in many soccer games - it makes it a boring watch on TV.

also, the lack of full understanding of the game of soccer by many americans is another issue, albeit a very small one.

Soccer will be big in the US when they find a way to commercialize it & market it better. Look what happened to NASCAR. If watching rednecks drive 500 miles in a circle can be popular soccer has a chance!

Thats what I've always thought.. NASCAR is the most boring shit ever... why cant americans grasp soccer?

Well, the main thing is that the game is not just about the goals. And if its hard to make a score, once the team make a goal is a hell of a party.

Football (or soccer, if you live in US) is way more simple than baseball.

you're right. but i believe a sport is more interesting when you understand the philosphy behind what each team is trying to do. cause if you don't understand that, than soccer simply is just a bunch of guys kicking a ball around - and there's nothing all that exciting about it. i.e. it really just becomes all about the goals, which sadly there are very few.

sometimes low scoring games are great in all sports. but it's too much the norm in soccer. a regular season game that does not mean too much would be much more exciting at 4-3 than 0-0.

I think what happens is that football in Europe (and in South America, I won?t forget South America) is not just about a game: It?s about pride, about feeling identified with the club from your city, clubs with more than a hundred years history most of them. For some people it really becomes a way of life. It was for me at one point when I was still living in Spain: going to all the games at home, and travel when the team was playing away. Those trips are actually some of my best memories: getting on a coach fully loaded with alcohol with a bunch of people at 5:00 am in the morning, travel 500 kms just to see a game. It was a lot of fun and, believe me, it wasn?t just about football; hell, most of the times we were so drunk on the way back home that we didn?t even know the score!

There?s an article on this thread about my team?s struggle to survive a chaotic financial situation and how it finally did thanks to the support of the whole city. It explains a bit how people feel about football or, more accurate, about their football club:

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=23989.0

Graciela is right, thats what I was saying that there are some teams that means more than just a sunday afternoon game, is your life you laugh, you cry by them, here in Ecuador my fave team is Barcelona and 4 years ago it almost descend to B division we (fans) were really worried but at the end we didnt descend, my team is one of the best team of my country even though none team had won anything Internationaly, sad but true  :'(, but the thing is that we have achieve 2 times to the finals of Copa Libertadores de America and at the end of the year the winner had to play with the Champions league winner, I remember that in 1998 when we got defeated, the people though we can win, and play against Real Madrid, people started to say that will be the Planet classic  :rofl: That was just hilarious.
USA needs that passion to understand and make this sport enter in their culture.

I think there are a couple reasons:

1) For some reason it is always compared to American Football.  Any sport is boring compared to American Football.

2) It is too slow and low scoring.  Americans have to have their attention caught.  Most are extremely busy.  If they aren't entertained they won't watch.

3) The best players in the world are not American.  I think in any sport you want stars to relate to.  Just as inner city blacks probably relate to Michael Jordan more than Larry Bird, most Americans relate to athletes that grew up similar to them rather then in Brazil, Italy, or the UK.

I like soccer and grew up playing it.  However, it just flat out isn't as entertaining as Football and Basketball.  Baseball is not too popular anymore.  And to the extent is, is more of a product of its history in the US and being a cheap sport to attend.  Nascar is purely a regional sport.  You can't compare it to the major sports.

I think American football is boring when compared to the sports I watch.




A game that ends 0-0 can be more exciting than one that ends 10-0.



Neither are the best hockey players but Americans still seem to enjoy watching it.



/jarmo

Hockey is one of the lowest rated sports here in the U.S.  A couple years ago I heard that the NHL was actually losing money here. If thats still the case, they'll probably be shipping that shit to canada in the near future. Hockey sucks so bad, I'd rather watch a soccer game than hockey. :hihi:

They've been moving teams from Canada to USA, not the other way around. I guess there's some kind of crowd for hockey there.

Anyway, on topic, I think it has a lot to do with history and traditions too. Many European countries have had leagues and local teams for ages. There's been a rivalry between some teams for generations so that kinda makes certain games even more popular than a regular game.

I think that with the right marketing, real football could be somewhat popular in USA too.


/jarmo

Yeah but I also think that teaching that the tshirt you wearing means more than a sunday game will help

Certainly, the sports one like is subjective.  How much American football do you watch?  Additionally, the kids in Europe don't grow up watching American football or playing it.  Although subjective, I think it is definately difficult to find soccer more action packed than American football.  Don't get me wrong, when players score in soccer it is entertaining.  But that happens at most, what four times a game?  There are usually as many "faked injury flops" as there are goals. 


I'll agree in soccer.  There are some low scoring games that are good games in soccer, just as in football. 

Yeah, but the best players play in the NHL, which is located in America and Canada.  In soccer the best players play in Europe.  Additionally, I think hockey is a pretty regional sport.  It definately doesn't have the widespread support that Football does.  Additionally, the physical play in Hockey, as compared to the fake injuries in soccer, also draws fans that don't grow up playing hockey.  About 15% of the country grows up playing hockey, where probably 80% play soccer at some time, yet hockey is more popular of a television sport that soccer in the US.

If you bring the best players in the world here then it will become "somewhat popular" (still less than football).  But since that will never happen, Americans will tune out because they don't want to watch second best.

I don't understand the whole "bring the best players here" argument.

We have several leagues in Europe and just because the leagues in Germany, The Netherlands or France aren't in the top three European leagues, football is still very popular in those countries.


I think they could show something like the Champions League (with the best European teams) on US tv and it could be somewhat popular with the right marketing.




/jarmo

I think no matter what they do, it still won't be as popular a league as the other ones. World class players have played there (stoichkov, matthaus, etc), past their primes of course, but have played there anyway. So it's not just  a matter of bringing the very best. Like Jarmo says, the best players are not playing the respective leagues in Holland, france or belgium, but the attendance and passion for those football (soccer) leagues is intact.

I think its one factor among many.  I won't watch the MLS for that reason.  But I will watch some European soccer.

I think you need to make the sport more popular before you can have a successfull league.





/jarmo

Almost every kid in the United States plays soccer for at least a few years growing up.  It is not that the sport is not popular, nor is it that Americans don't understand or know soccer.  They simply do not like watching it on TV.

It's popular in USA but nobody likes to watch it on tv?

If that's the definition of a popular sport, how would you rate the same sport in Europe where people both play and watch it!  :hihi:



/jarmo

Well, that is basically the point.  You seem to suggest that soccer is not popular here because it hasn't been marketed or the American public is not familiar with the sport.  Quite the contrary.  That is why I think my points are pretty strong.  The American soccer leagues do not have the best players in the world.  While most Americans have played soccer sometime in their life, they find it somewhat boring to watch.  Whether that is unfamiliarity with the players, lack of connection with the players, or Americans just plain thinking that soccer is a boring sport, I am not sure.  I think it is all of the above. 

Here, the best athletes choose other sports- football, basketball, or baseball.  That is one big reason that we are not towards the top in soccer.

I just think your argument falls out the window when you consider the number of youth that grow up playing the sport.   

Canadians are quite similar in fact.  Soccer is not too popular there either.  Yet American Football is pretty popular over in Canada.

I spent 6 summers when I was young in the US and trust me, I can say it is a popular sport. A lot of kids played it, great "soccer" fields, etc. It's just that the league is not popular. Why? Who knows.

I'm thinking baseball, basketball, (American) football, racing etc are popular. I don't call "soccer" popular because it's not in the same league in popularity as far as I know.

Here in Europe a sports geek who watches sports probably watches football. It's not like that in the USA right? I think that could be changed with some marketing though.... For example, make people see that Champion's League isn't the same as watching any other league. That's what I'm talking about. Making it more popular among the people who "matter". The TV audiences.




/jarmo

As an American(jack, u live in L.A.? did u go see real-madrid galaxy?) I understand the game and I can sit through the entire ordeal.  At the same time, it can be exciting, but boring too.  I watch your European sports reports, and I envy u guys, because you have all that tradition, and singing team songs, getting drunk, all that fun stuff.  And when I watch European soccer, i get excited too.  But we have too many rules, u can't do any of that, and that's what turns us off to the game.

I didn't get to go to the madrid vs galaxy game.. but I watched the whole thing. I go to games bout once every two months tho. You?

that was my first soccer game.  parking is horrible there.  i thought dodger stadium was bad.  But once i get my car after graduating, ill go to a lot of games, cuz i liked the experience.  Everyone was wearing a beckham or ronaldo jersey.

Trust me.. parking isn't bad most of the time.. haha. Stadium is usually only 1/2 full...  but its getting better

it was packed!  we had to park on a construction site!  it's cuz they let people sit on the grass under the jumbotron.  it took us 1 hour to just leave the lot, and get to the freeway.  It was late too, kinda scary driving through Compton at night.  But it's a real nice facility, its like Staples, with the blue lights n all.

Ive always thought the same thing buddy.. haha

When Madrid Played with Galaxy? I saw a game this wednesday and was for Copa del rey  :nervous:

That was in July Mr. Dick Purple, don't worry, you didn't miss anything.