Soccer's Next Great Arrival is Predicted

I've always figured MLS is to ball or team sports as NHRA is to auto racing. Tightly knit niche. No more, no less. And to use the World Cup Ghanna/USA ratings as proof of soccer's arrival reminds me of the talk about how the NHL was going to take off in the wake of that epic USA-Canada Olympic match.

NHL's still on Versus, no?

 

Well, there was the post earlier on this thread equating a dislike of soccer with xenophobia and arch-conservative politics; forgive me if I missed the sarcasm font on that post (I got it in Piotr's but not on that other one). But I have seen that same xenophobia angle from soccer fans for years now.

Beyond that, a certain core of fans demands "equal" coverage of soccer to baseball or the NFL or whatever. Out here in the Bay Area, the Earthquakes have a small but vocal following that truly believes the Earthquakes deserve every bit of coverage (dedicated beat writer at home and on the road, all game stories and previews on front page, special sections etc.) that the Giants do. This is not the prevailing opinion, but on this board it's probably safe to say most of the people, if they are in journalism, have encountered this segment of the base.

 

Yeah, except you completely misread the article.

 

This article is really much ado about nothing. Maybe because it was in the NYT some people think it was trying to be especially meaningful, but really it just read like your basic advance of an event that's in the news, and you could tell by the way it skipped all over the globe discussing what's in it for the various bidders.

But the basic premise -- a World Cup in 2022 would help the sport grow in the U.S. -- seems pretty indisputable given what has happened since 1994. There's even a point where Sunil Gulati specifically says this is not the NFL.

 

Exactly.

 

I don't care on way or the other, I just though the apple juice analogy was clever.

 

Dying without ever watching an interesting soccer game that one of my kids isn't playing in; except it's not fear, it's expectation.

Things I fear--I'll go three and desist--continued worldwide economic slump; President Palin; large angry dogs.

 

I guess what I don't get is why a core of soccer fans feel the need for the sport to be popular in the USA. If you like a sport why do you feel the need for others to like it also?

I don't see this same need in say snow board racing.

It just seems that these continued arrival proclamations change the definition of "arrival" and set the sport up for failure.

 

I guess what I don't get is why a core of soccer-hating trolls feel the need to shit on the sport on SJ. If you hate a sport, why do you feel the need for others to hate it also?

I don't see this same need in, say, any other sport at all.

 

In 1990, what was soccer's impact in America?

In 2000, what was soccer's impact in America?

In 2010...
We have a decent national team. Not with teams like Germany, Brazil and France, but we are a solid team like Oklahoma State has a solid college football team.

I can watch great soccer every Saturday morning on ESPN and probably a handful of other matches during the week.

Most kids in America will at try organized soccer (or so it seems where I live). Probably more than try football, basketball and baseball.

But the soccer we see in person is a weak imitation of what is played in the other parts of the world. The rest of the world does not have football, basketball, baseball, NASCAR, pro wrestling (yes, it does take the interest of many) and hockey to compete with in our interest.

Soccer is growing, but it is not there yet to be listed with the big three.

 

There are no "big three."

There's the NFL.

Then there's a tier with MLB and NBA, maybe NASCAR.

Then there's a tier with golf, hockey, soccer and some others.

I'm probably wrong about where some of the sports go, but there's definitely several distinct tiers.

 

Based on TV ratings, NASCAR has slipped down out of the second tier.