Why Soccer Will Become America’s Most
Popular Sport Sooner Than You Think
-Liam Hillery
Soccer’s status in America, for some time, was laughable, but all of that is changing. American
opponents thought it weak and boring, while fans of the world’s most popular sport defended its
intellect, suspense, and ingrained passionate. Ignoring arguments that soccer is for the weak and real
athletes play tougher sports, (because if that’s your argument let me just tell you flat out, you’re wrong.
If you’d like to argue, I’ll gladly shoot you down on your time, not mine), and focusing instead on
soccer’s excitement factor and branding in the States, I’m here to tell you why soccer will be America’s
most popular sport a lot sooner than you think.
The first argument most soccer proponents throw out is that soccer is America’s favorite youth
sport, so there’s a growing base of inherent fans. I’m sorry, this isn’t really true. We’re not there yet.
Chuck Klosterman, in George Will vs. Nick Hornby, an essay railing against soccer that I wholeheartedly
disagree with, makes a solid point, dutifully revealing that a large part of those youth soccer players are
just out there because their parents made them, and probably stop playing once they realize their not
good at sports and would rather listen to rock music and be inactive instead. A lot of players do drop off
and lose interest in the game. Fine. What we really take away from soccer being America’s most popular
youth sport is that it creates a public who is knowledgeable of the game. Those kids who dropped out of
the sport during their angsty puberty years will still have a good understanding of the game later in life
when they decide they want to be cultured and realize sports are great. With this, the game has a large
potential fan base.
Reaching and converting that large potential fan base has been the task of soccer proponents,
and they are actually finding strong success through expert branding. The main criticism of soccer has
been its excitement factor. Your wrangler jean-wearing, cigar smoking dad complains that it’s too
boring. Well, soccer ambassadors have been working hard to flip that notion on its head, packaging the
sport as one of the most thrilling sports in the world.
Let’s take a look at the most significant televised soccer events in America over the last few
years: The FIFA Men’s and Women’s World Cup and they yearly English Premier League. The Men’s
World Cup was the first time we’ve seen a real appetite for soccer in the states. Yes, we’ve had glimpses
in the past, but soccer’s true landing in America was 2014, when high school football players were
eagerly following Clint Dempsey and the rest of the U.S. Men’s National Team. There was a real sense of
pride following Team America as they battled Ghana, Portugal, and Germany, and it helped that the
games were also amazing to watch. The United States, Ghana, and Portugal are all counter attacking
teams. The games were back and forth affairs, each team breaking with speed and throwing in
crunching tackles. Out of the group stage, the excitement continued. Against Belgium, Tim Howard had
one of the best performances by any goalkeeper ever. He made outstanding, game-saving stops,
keeping team USA in the game when we had no right to be. Then in the dying minutes we found the
never-say-die attitude America is known for, grabbing a late goal from a young future hero and throwing
everything we had forward ins search of an equalizer at the death. It was gut-wrenching, edge of your
seat stuff, and check this out, American’s watched! An estimated 30 million Americans watched tuned
in. Another fact you may find surprising: a year later 25.4 million Americans watched the women’s
national team trounce Japan in the Women’s World Cup Final. That was more than the NBA and Stanley
Cup finals, on the back end of a tournament filled with crazy goals and shocking plot twists.
Still, a large fan base for the world’s biggest sporting event is one thing, but the Olympics also
draws a large audience, and curling won’t be America’s most popular sport any time soon. And World
Cups only happen once every four years, and that isn’t enough time to hold American attention. That’s
accomplished through the English Premier League. The world’s most popular soccer league is
marketable to Americans, and broadcast companies know it. In 2015, NBC outbid Fox, Univision and
ESPN, paying approximately $1 Billion, for the rights to broadcast the Premier League in the United
States. Every game is incredibly fast, hard-hitting, and intense. It’s also unpredictable, a rarity in sports
these days. In years past you could bank on Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool to be
your top four. With the advent of television dollars – the premier league is raking in money everywhere,
not just the U.S. – every team has the money to buy superstars. On any given day the league’s last place
team has a realistic possibility of beating the first place team. The NFL, NBA, and NHL can’t say the same.
Complimenting these wonderful matchups is the league’s structure. The Premier League’s most coveted
prize is not a playoff cup (although that does exist), but instead the trophy for best season points total.
For those unaware, during seasonal play, teams earn three points for a win, one for a tie, and zero for a
loss. In a league where any team can win on any given day, every point is crucial and every game is a
must-win. Dropping points in December can mean losing the title in May, and because every game
matters, viewers don’t tune out during the season like in the NBA and NHL. They watch passionately
every single week.
So right now, an eager, passionate fan base is tuning in to the premier league every week.
Potential fans are being converted at an accelerating rate. But we have to ask ourselves, what
sustainability will soccer have over the other sports markets in America? How can they win over fans
and keep them watching? We can answer that by analyzing American sports leagues. First, let’s quickly
tackle Major League Soccer. The MLS is definitely among America’s weakest leagues, but not for long. It
has a hybrid structure, combining the seasonal importance of European soccer and the playoff structure
of American Sports, with both holding equal weight in determining a team’s success. Every game seems
to matter, while the playoffs and its cup are fiercely fought for. The league is also attracting major
interest from the best players abroad. Thus far we’ve seen the league gather players who are at the end
of their careers, but soon those won’t be the only foreign talents the league attracts. Foreign players
dream of the glitz, glamour, and fame of America. It’s a market they recognize is growing, and they want
to establish themselves as heroes in major cities, something that is difficult to do abroad. London has
five teams in the Premier League alone, nine in the division below, each with several stars. Some players
have already moved to the states in the prime of their careers, such as Obafemi Martins (Seattle
Sounders) and Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto FC), who have since become MLS superstars. Better players
are moving earlier in their careers to the MLS, and soon the league’s best teams will be able to compete
with the best teams abroad.
Finally, we reach soccer’s opponents: football, basketball, and hockey. Each sport is wonderful in
its own right, but each sport is also declining, while soccer is on the rise. Football and hockey are both
sports that are loved for their physicality. They hit hard. The reality, though, is that they won’t be hitting
hard for long. The concussion risks in both sorts, and their subsequent propensities for brain damage,
mean the sports are seeing less athletes opt to play, especially at the youth level. Viewing experiences
are also changing, as both leagues are also clamping down on physicality, penalizing harder hits, limiting
the range of hits, and changing rules (such as kick off starting positions) to limit each sport’s physical
natures. So far the changes haven’t altered the essence of each sport, but it has significantly decreased
the amount of youths growing up as potential fans of each game, and it lowered their excitement
factors.
Basketball, meanwhile, isn’t decreasing its physicality because it can’t decrease any further. NBA
regular season games (which carry no significance, relevant, but worth a separate discussion) average
approximately 20 fouls per game, while playoff games average about 24. The league has also seen fans
loudly disapprove of an increasingly evident flopping problem. Players like Lebron James and the fading
flop King Pao Gasol know how to get calls with dives, and they do. Increased stoppages in play also halt
any sense of momentum a game might be developing. Excitement needs to build through open,
continuous play. There is no intensity when the game continually stops because both teams are in the
Bonus.
Soccer has none of these problems. Fans of the game know it is a highly intense sport. Games
are fast, tackles are hard, and rivalries are passionate. The sport isn’t being curbed by rules; its
physicality remains intact, and the game is continuous, giving fans no time to rest between the
excitements of end-to-end play. Soccer is not the most popular yet, but with a massive potential fan
base and exposure to the most exciting play in the world, I believe America is one deep run into the FIFA
Men’s World Cup, a realistic possibility in the next twelve years, away from being America’s favorite
sport.