Why soccer will never be big in the USA....... (1 Viewer)

[Short Corner]

Link? I belive more youths play soccer than any other sport besides basketball and have for a while.

When I started coaching hoops in the states (96) we would have we would be cutting about a dozen kids every year and give the list of cuts to the soccer coach.  The last few years (06-08) the opposite was happening.  We would have 10-12 kids come out and we were a pretty successful program making deep state runs and one of the few publics in the  region to compete with the parochials.

As far as baseball, growing up our city had 3 separate LL's that sustained 20 Major League teams.  The three have combined some years ago to from a single league with 6 Major League teams.

 

[belljr]

i played soccer for ~ 10-15 years.   I hate it

 

[comfortably numb]

How many games have been played in this world cup?

How many 1-0 games?

How many games end in a tie?

I show 34 games 11 games ended 1-0 and 7 ties

 

[Scoresman]

Don’t look at scoring, look at scoring chances. A 1-0 game with the losing team constantly pressing can be incredibly tense. 

 

[eoMMan]

Don’t look at scoring, look at scoring chances. A 1-0 game with the losing team constantly pressing can be incredibly tense. 

Like a 1-0 baseball game where the batters are coming really close to hitting homers?

Pass.

 

[eoMMan]

I show 34 games 11 games ended 1-0 and 7 ties

So more than half of the games either only had one goal/point or they ended in a tie. Sounds very unfulfilling to be honest. 

 

[comfortably numb]

So more than half of the games either only had one goal/point or they ended in a tie. Sounds very unfulfilling to be honest. 

Its an ignorant way of looking at things but i understand the thought process as I've been there before and lastly it's not for everyone. 

 

[Scoresman]

Like a 1-0 baseball game where the batters are coming really close to hitting homers?

Pass.

Not even close to the same thing. 

 

[Ned]

I meant to put this in my previous post but then I got high.

This is very much correct in regards to hurting the US. Comp soccer is stupid expensive and cuts out a very large chunk of the population. Most of the clubs have fundraising/sponsors...and it's still expensive. Then when free soccer comes around(7th/8th grade-ish / high school) kids are waaaaaay behind in development. 

My kid’s club coach talks about this a lot as he’s a HS coach as well. The HS kids that have club soccer experience are immediately the best on their teams as most kids don’t have that sort of training before 6th grade.  The tide is slowly turning on that point, but the biggest issue is the pay to play; it’s expensive even for the cheapest clubs. It’s more prevelant in public schools vs private for obvious reasons. 

 

[Scoresman]

One thing I don’t understand about soccer is why don’t they move back the guy taking the penalty kick a bit.  It seems like too big an advantage for the guy taking the kick as it is and the goalie has to essentially pick a direction to dive beforehand. Sometimes it’s comical how easy it is for the kicker when the goalie dives in the opposite direction. 

 

[roadkill1292]

One thing I don’t understand about soccer is why don’t they move back the guy taking the penalty kick a bit.  It seems like too big an advantage for the guy taking the kick as it is and the goalie has to essentially pick a direction to dive beforehand. Sometimes it’s comical how easy it is for the kicker when the goalie dives in the opposite direction. 

A rule change (one of the few) that I've thought about that would make things more interesting without changing the essential nature of the game would be to take each successive PK in a shootout situation from one yard further back. So the fifth kick would come from 16 yards out. Maybe increments this small wouldn't even change things, I dunno.

 

[Christo]

One thing I don’t understand about soccer is why don’t they move back the guy taking the penalty kick a bit.  It seems like too big an advantage for the guy taking the kick as it is and the goalie has to essentially pick a direction to dive beforehand. Sometimes it’s comical how easy it is for the kicker when the goalie dives in the opposite direction. 

The defending player fouled the attacking player. Why shouldn't the attacking player have the advantage?

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Never said they do. Just more compared to American Athletes they are pretty tame and I will say the younger players are far more mature. You don't see too many Manziel's and Mayfields in soccer and when you do they usually have pretty short careers or journey club guys. 

Johnny Manziel didn't have a short career?

 

[Scoresman]

The defending player fouled the attacking player. Why shouldn't the attacking player have the advantage?

They should but it just seems like a ridiculously large advantage, especially considering the fact that flopping exists and not every possession inside the box is necessarily a perfect scoring opportunity.  Perfect angle, ability to time your shot perfectly.  Like taking a free throw from a ladder right above the bucket, except the point scored from a penalty kick has about 1000 times the weight of a free throw.  

 

[Stinkin Ref]

soccer will never be big here because there just aren't enough "wow" plays...its all about not making mistakes and intentionally kicking the ball out of bounds 100 times a game....there are not enough "wow" plays to fill up a 90 minute game.....watching defense and positioning and "strategy" can only entertain you for so long....they need to shorten the game to help put more emphasis on taking chances to score.....there has to be more incentive to be aggressive...make the field smaller, something....it is painful to watch on TV, and without more frequent "wow" plays there will be no big time TV contracts and commercial sponsorship....don't get me wrong, I have seen some incredible bicycle kicks or whatever, but they are just too few and far between.....when the most exciting thing is hoping the game ends in a tie and there HAS to be a shootout, that is not a great recipe for viewership...

 

[Dr. Octopus]

its all about not making mistakes and intentionally kicking the ball out of bounds 100 times a game

Have you ever watched soccer?

 

[Stinkin Ref]

Have you ever watched soccer?

unfortunately a few times....but let's say go ahead and say I am not giving it enough credit and that I am wrong and there is a little bit more too it than that....what other parts of my post are inaccurate....

 

[Dr. Octopus]

unfortunately a few times....but let's say go ahead and say I am not giving it enough credit and that I am wrong and there is a little bit more too it than that....what other parts of my post are inaccurate....

Changing the world's most popular sport to suit your short attention span and mindset.

And I'm not sure soccer has any more or less "wow" moments than football, baseball or basketball. If you need for a play to lead to a score to be a "wow" moment than you are right but you can also look at it that each score is that much more important and meaningful unlike say basketball where each score means little. Also football scores are inflated by the fact that TDs are worth 7 points and FG 3 points. I love football of course but there may only be 3-4 "wow" plays in most games as well. And baseball is 90% watching guys stand around while two guys throw it back and forth.

You most inaccurate line is probably this one though:
 

there will be no big time TV contracts and commercial sponsorship

Maybe check out how much FOX paid for the World Cup or how many different professional leagues have TV contracts?

 

[roadkill1292]

unfortunately a few times....but let's say go ahead and say I am not giving it enough credit and that I am wrong and there is a little bit more too it than that....what other parts of my post are inaccurate....

Something that opinionated and unsubstantiated can hardly be evaluated on the basis of accuracy. Besides, it's hard to have a winner in a prediction contest until the event is over.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

unfortunately a few times....but let's say go ahead and say I am not giving it enough credit and that I am wrong and there is a little bit more too it than that....what other parts of my post are inaccurate....

Among others, this part is spectacularly wrong: "without more frequent "wow" plays there will be no big time TV contracts and commercial sponsorship"

Just a few examples -- NBC just paid $1bln for the rights to the English league for 6 years. That does not include any other leagues (Spain, Italy, Germany) nor the champions league games or world cup/FIFA games. Fox's deal for the US broadcast rights to the world cup was more expensive than broadcast rights in any other country in the world. Chevrolet pays more to have its logo on Manchester United jerseys than any other sponsor pays for any other club in the world.

 

[Stinkin Ref]

Among others, this part is spectacularly wrong: "without more frequent "wow" plays there will be no big time TV contracts and commercial sponsorship"

Just a few examples -- NBC just paid $1bln for the rights to the English league for 6 years. That does not include any other leagues (Spain, Italy, Germany) nor the champions league games or world cup/FIFA games. Fox's deal for the US broadcast rights to the world cup was more expensive than broadcast rights in any other country in the world. Chevrolet pays more to have its logo on Manchester United jerseys than any other sponsor pays for any other club in the world.

fair enough but the question is about in the USA....so not real concerned about the NBC deal....and then even I will admit, the World Cup is a whole different ballgame....Chevy sells cars all over the world...I could see them promoting overseas on uniforms, in stadiums, commercials, etc....

 

[NewlyRetired]

and without more frequent "wow" plays there will be no big time TV contracts and commercial sponsorship....

do we have the winner for post of the year already in just June?

 

[Dr. Octopus]

fair enough but the question is about in the USA....so not real concerned about the NBC deal....and then even I will admit, the World Cup is a whole different ballgame....Chevy sells cars all over the world...I could see them promoting overseas on uniforms, in stadiums, commercials, etc....

The NBC deal is to broadcast the English Premiere League in the USA.

 

[NewlyRetired]

fair enough but the question is about in the USA....so not real concerned about the NBC deal.......

the question is about the USA and your not concerned with the NBC deal that is for a USA audience?

What point are you trying to make then?  There are literally billions of dollars spent on TV and sponsorship of soccer in the US.

 

[lardonastick]

woof, not sure why you guys bother...

 

[Scoresman]

Soccer will never be popular here because I guess we just don't like good things.  How you can watch both late games today and not see them as awesome examples of sports watching, I just don't know what to say.  And there have been many moments like that in the world cup so far.  Every sport has a few things that are subjectively good or bad depending who you ask, but soccer does not need widespread changes to appeal to us.  I think it's the other way around.

Soccer discussion and media do need to change their grammar though.  Referring to country names as plural will always be wrong.  

 

[Dr. Octopus]

....they need to shorten the game to help put more emphasis on taking chances to score.....

A full soccer game including halftime is about 2 hours long - which makes it far shorter than all these other major sports.

 

[NewlyRetired]

The NBC deal is to broadcast the English Premiere League in the USA.

NBC paid $1 billion for US tv rights to EPL

Fox/Telemundo paid $1 billion for US tv rights to the WC

ESPN/Fox paid $720 million for the US tv rights to MLS

Turner/Univision paid $300 million for the US tv rights for the Champions League

And these are just the first 4 off the top of my head.  There are numerous others.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

NBC paid $1 billion for US tv rights to EPL

Fox/Telemundo paid $1 billion for US tv rights to the WC

ESPN/Fox paid $720 million for the US tv rights to MLS

Turner/Univision paid $300 million for the US tv rights for the Champions League

And these are just the first 4 off the top of my head.  There are numerous others.

Just imagine the money that would be pouring in if there were more "wow" plays and the fields were smaller and the games where shorter.

 

[eoMMan]

Don't you soccer nerds have a few other threads?

Let us poo poo on soccer in peace.

 

[eoMMan]

.

 

[roadkill1292]

Don't you soccer nerds have a few other threads?

Let us poo poo on soccer in peace.

I remember when the footy critics would barge into the soccer threads and crank up the insults. Now they get laughed out of those and need their own safe places. Times are changing, slowly but surely.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

I've become a bit of a soccer nut starting after the 2014 World Cup.  Like some here, my only regret is that I didn't get into it sooner.

The only thing that still bothers me a little is the time wasting.  I don't know why they can't just stop the clock when play stops and do away with extra time, which is never kept track of accurately.  You could still not hard stop the game at zero and let the ref wait to blow the whistle until the current attack ends.

The flopping doesn't really bother me anymore.  It's not that much worse than any of the American sports really, it's just that there are 80,000 more soccer teams around the world so it's much easier to find hilarious Youtube videos where it was done hilariously excessively.  I'm sure if every country in the world had a (or multiple) American Football leagues we'd have no problem finding videos of receivers pretending like they were interfered with so badly that they broke their leg when it's clear they weren't even touched.

 

[Stinkin Ref]

The NBC deal is to broadcast the English Premiere League in the USA.

thats for overseas soccer....not soccer in the USA....

 

[Stinkin Ref]

the thread is asking why it will never be big in the USA.....in my mind "big" means competing with or passing the other 4 major sports....I gave some reasons I believe in....mostly that it is pretty boring....in the USA I don't see it moving into one of the top 4 spots and becoming "big"....in fact probably never in the top 6 if you count mens college football and basketball....enjoy it as you will....I still think hidden random miniature land mines would add a lot to the excitement...

 

[eoMMan]

I remember when the footy critics would barge into the soccer threads and crank up the insults. Now they get laughed out of those and need their own safe places. Times are changing, slowly but surely.

Soccer is still stupid.

 

[The Gator]

thats for overseas soccer....not soccer in the USA....

This thread has been funny lately. Keep it up 

 

[Stinkin Ref]

This thread has been funny lately. Keep it up 

rank how "big" soccer in in the USA somewhere on this list...you can move the 6 around and insert soccer where you see fit...bump whichever one out that you want

1. NFL

2. College Football

3. NBA

4. MLB

5. College Basketball

6. NHL

 

[The Gator]

rank how "big" soccer in in the USA somewhere on this list...you can move the 6 around and insert soccer where you see fit...bump whichever one out that you want

1. NFL

2. College Football

3. NBA

4. MLB

5. College Basketball

6. NHL

By what metric? You've been proven wrong here already and just move the goal posts. 

http://www.phillyvoice.com/poll-soccer-nearly-cracks-americans-top-three-favorite-spectator-sports/

https://news.gallup.com/poll/224864/football-americans-favorite-sport-watch.aspx

 

[Dr. Octopus]

thats for overseas soccer....not soccer in the USA....

Huh?

 

[zed2283]

Room in here for the overflow.

 

 

[Tom Hagen]

Fox/Telemundo paid $1 billion for US tv rights to the WC

And that doesn't even include all the bribes.

 

[NewlyRetired]

And that doesn't even include all the bribes.

Speaking of bribes, Fox and Telemundo made out like bandits even after spending that ridiculous amount of money. 

Because of all the bribes that caused the abortion that will be WC 2022, FIFA was so afraid of getting sued by Fox that FIFA cut Fox what sounds like an amazing deal for the rights to WC 2026.

 

[Stinkin Ref]

By what metric? You've been proven wrong here already and just move the goal posts. 

http://www.phillyvoice.com/poll-soccer-nearly-cracks-americans-top-three-favorite-spectator-sports/

https://news.gallup.com/poll/224864/football-americans-favorite-sport-watch.aspx

Lol...telephone interviews of 1,000 people....that only gave them four options, one of which ws soccer...no NHL, no college football, no college basketball...

anyway...I get it...its big elsewhere...and the WC is a different beast every 4 yers...it just really isn’t that big here in the USA compared to other sports

 

[NewlyRetired]

that only gave them four options, one of which ws soccer...no NHL, no college football, no college basketball...

They did not give any options to the people. 

If you skipped over the text and just looked at the chart, the chart was just showing the top 4 answers. The top 4 do not add up to 100% so there are obviously others down lower like tennis, golf, hockey, mma, boxing, horse racing etc.   They mentioned in the text that auto racing had dropped to just 2% of the vote.

College basketball and college football are covered in football and basketball.  NHL would have been covered under hockey if it got enough votes to have been mentioned.

Gallup has been running this same poll since 1937 and it has been well respected over the years as it showed the down fall of boxing and horse racing, and the rise of football, finally taking over from the long running baseball back in the 70's.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Lol...telephone interviews of 1,000 people....that only gave them four options, one of which ws soccer...no NHL, no college football, no college basketball...

anyway...I get it...its big elsewhere...and the WC is a different beast every 4 yers...it just really isn’t that big here in the USA compared to other sports

It's ok to not like soccer - that's an opinion. Its not ok for you to keep making up "facts" or ignoring facts presented to you. You throw crap out there that has no basis in reality and when you get called out, you spin, backtrack and make up more stuff. Did you actually read the link? Maybe you don't like the methodlogy but once again you make up "facts" - the people who answered the survey were not only given four choices. And the question was "sport you like to watch" - not which league so thats why college football and basketball are not broken out from football, just like soccer isn't broken out to all of its variations and leauges

 

[AAABatteries]

soccer will never be big here because there just aren't enough "wow" plays...its all about not making mistakes and intentionally kicking the ball out of bounds 100 times a game....there are not enough "wow" plays to fill up a 90 minute game.....watching defense and positioning and "strategy" can only entertain you for so long....they need to shorten the game to help put more emphasis on taking chances to score.....there has to be more incentive to be aggressive...make the field smaller, something....it is painful to watch on TV, and without more frequent "wow" plays there will be no big time TV contracts and commercial sponsorship....don't get me wrong, I have seen some incredible bicycle kicks or whatever, but they are just too few and far between.....when the most exciting thing is hoping the game ends in a tie and there HAS to be a shootout, that is not a great recipe for viewership...

I hope people that are in charge of soccer in the US read this and then do the exact opposite.  If you don’t like the sport don’t watch - pretty simple.  

 

[AAABatteries]

Just imagine the money that would be pouring in if there were more "wow" plays and the fields were smaller and the games where shorter.

 

 

[AAABatteries]

I’m beginning to think we’ve been successfully trolled - or this is a Stealthycat alias.

 

[Ned]

I’m beginning to think we’ve been successfully trolled

My Link