Why are the USA NOT promoting Soccer?

Hi All,

As you'll see, i am not a US citizen, nor do i live in the US. I live in Scotland which has a strong history associated with soccer. I support a team called Glasgow Rangers FC. I do follow some MLS games but not a lot as i dont have ESPN at home. My reason for this thread is because my team, Rangers FC have recently signed 2 USA players to add to their current USA player and their 2 former USA players. The players they have signed are Alejandro Bedoya and Carlos Bocanegro. We already have Maurice Edu and previously had DaMarcus Beasley and Claudio Reyna. Ok so the histroy out of the way.

The european football format is quite complex, We have each country with its own nation Football Association, within that association they ahve their own leagues and are members of UEFA and FIFA. We have 2 primary european competitions each year, The Europa League, which is a league of european clubs that compete against each other on top of their domestic leagues to win the Europa Cup. The Europa League is the lesser of the 2 european trophies on offer. The other trophy is The Champions League. the champions leagueis basically a competition for the champions of select leagues in europe i.e. England, Scotland, Spain, Italy, Germany etc. These 2 competions attract the best players in the world and the money generated through TV revenue and sponsors etc is pretty staggering. To put it into perspective, the top 20 teams in europe generate a revenue combined between them of approximately 4 Billion Euros Per Year. The collective population of the top 4 coutries in europe that generate these 20 teams and income is about the same population as the USA. The 4 coutries are UK, Germany, Spain and Italy.

The USA currently have a good team, they have beaten the current world cup holders along with many other teams. The USA attracts "popular players past their peak", players such as David Beckham, Robbie Keane etc. I am extremely curious as to why the USA isn't pushing soccer more. If it can generate 4 Billion Euros in Europe, it could generate that in the USA, the USA could easily be the world champions. They have the population, they have the TV, they have the Economy, they have the image...

Is the USA promoting soccer more than it used too and is it working? Are people more interested in soccer than they used to be? This is a massive pot of gold for up and coming people to get their hands on...

Can anyone add anything to what is stalling the USA thoughts on soccer?

Calling it soccer!

I'll take a simple stab at this...

I believe it would threaten their national sports if it really took off; American Football, Baseball, Basketball and Ice Hockey.

Even though it would require players of a different skill set, I can imagine that the sponsorship of these sports are too well established.

I may be totally wrong, nice post though.


Regards, Skellon.

Not enough ass slapping.

I've often discussed this with my friends and being a dual UK/US citizen I have a unique perspective. I believe it is because the U.S. are not the best in the world at soccer, they do not actively become engaged in it.

I see this two fold.....number one, the U.S. Does not have the best league in the world like they do with baseball, American football, basketball, and NHL hockey. Secondly, they do not win major soccer tournaments as they do with these other sports.

Now, my American friends agree with me because their initial argument was that the game of soccer is too slow and low scoring.. Once I explained to them that an American football game stops after EVERY play, that NHL and baseball games are also low scoring for the most part, they began to see what I was saying.

Look at it this way, the superbowl champions are often called "world champions" as are the "world series" winners. I think because of the way most Americans are raised with the "America is the best, woooooo" attitude which starts young (and I know because I grew up there) , psychologically they won't back a loser. Now, if the U.S. Team starts to reach a decent stage of the world cup....they all instantly become engaged.

Personally, I have been involved with a training system for the premier league and I get to train the Manchester united players so I'm pretty deeply involved in football and I can't get enough!!!! Maybe it's the English part of my blood? Lol

That's my thoughs anyways...good post

hi op
actually in some parts of the usa they are promoting football
ive seen job advertisements wanting football coaches from here in england

I actually believe the US is coming around to the sport.

Just look at a few big names playing there now, Beckham, Henry, and Keane to name a few. This can only promote things.

Because football is much more entertaining, since it is much more of a contact sport. Let's face it, most Americans think soccer is as boring as baseball...so the Americans that do watch a boring sport watch baseball, lol.

Originally posted by jrmcleod
Hi All,

As you'll see, i am not a US citizen, nor do i live in the US. I live in Scotland which has a strong history associated with soccer. I support a team called Glasgow Rangers FC. I do follow some MLS games but not a lot as i dont have ESPN at home. My reason for this thread is because my team, Rangers FC have recently signed 2 USA players to add to their current USA player and their 2 former USA players. The players they have signed are Alejandro Bedoya and Carlos Bocanegro. We already have Maurice Edu and previously had DaMarcus Beasley and Claudio Reyna. Ok so the histroy out of the way.

The european football format is quite complex, We have each country with its own nation Football Association, within that association they ahve their own leagues and are members of UEFA and FIFA. We have 2 primary european competitions each year, The Europa League, which is a league of european clubs that compete against each other on top of their domestic leagues to win the Europa Cup. The Europa League is the lesser of the 2 european trophies on offer. The other trophy is The Champions League. the champions leagueis basically a competition for the champions of select leagues in europe i.e. England, Scotland, Spain, Italy, Germany etc. These 2 competions attract the best players in the world and the money generated through TV revenue and sponsors etc is pretty staggering. To put it into perspective, the top 20 teams in europe generate a revenue combined between them of approximately 4 Billion Euros Per Year. The collective population of the top 4 coutries in europe that generate these 20 teams and income is about the same population as the USA. The 4 coutries are UK, Germany, Spain and Italy.

The USA currently have a good team, they have beaten the current world cup holders along with many other teams. The USA attracts "popular players past their peak", players such as David Beckham, Robbie Keane etc. I am extremely curious as to why the USA isn't pushing soccer more. If it can generate 4 Billion Euros in Europe, it could generate that in the USA, the USA could easily be the world champions. They have the population, they have the TV, they have the Economy, they have the image...

Is the USA promoting soccer more than it used too and is it working? Are people more interested in soccer than they used to be? This is a massive pot of gold for up and coming people to get their hands on...

Can anyone add anything to what is stalling the USA thoughts on soccer?

I agree with what you're saying...but, mate lol seriously.....it's FOOTBALL! The Beautiful Game!
Soccer is nothing more than a 1930's nickname that never caught on lol.

Don't tarnish the worlds sport with that silly word lol.

reply to post by jrmcleod


Personnally, I find Soccor (Football) boring, just like I do basketball and baseball. I like playing them, but do not like watching them.

Actually, I am amazed that Rugby hasn't taken off here in the US. That is a fun sport to watch and play IMO.

Though Rugby does beat the body up pretty quick.

Originally posted by Skellon
I'll take a simple stab at this...

I believe it would threaten their national sports if it really took off; American Football, Baseball, Basketball and Ice Hockey.

Even though it would require players of a different skill set, I can imagine that the sponsorship of these sports are too well established.

I may be totally wrong, nice post though.


Regards, Skellon.

But instead of the big four sports they'd have the big five! I was listening to an interview by Dominic Monaghan(Spelling? lol) the other day, whilst here was on tour with Manchester United, and he was saying that when the yanks "Get it", when they understand the game and basically get a feel for it, then it will take off like a bloody rocket lol. There's over 300 million people living over there, so you've got a huge market for the merchandise and TV. Why do you think there's so many great TVshows made in the US, it's cos the American TV networks can generate so much revenue through advertisements.

This is something I've also thought a lot about. Truth is, the US has tried very hard to promote it, especially in recent years. It just has never really caught on. For some reason - probably, like a previous comment suggested, that Americans don't have the attention span and shy away from the thought of 90 minute halves or whatever it is- Americans have just never shown enough interest. Trust me.. TPTB want it to catch on, and wish it would. Look up 'Report from Iron Mountain'.. a government-funded think-tank from 1966 with the purpose of brainstorming ways besides war to keep people dependent on their governments. They toy with a few ideas, one of them being what they call 'Blood Games', talking about how passionate most of the world is about certain sports and how they could use this to advance globalization. In the end, the settle on an early incarnation of Global Warming as the most feasible idea. Very fascinating read though, I recommend it..

Anyways, I also think that this is why they have started playing a couple American Football games per year in London

reply to post by bacci0909


It's 45min halves, its a quicker game and over faster than US sports, so attention span can't have anything to do with it.

And if you look over the past few decades, its grown a lot of support.

Originally posted by DAZ21
reply to post by bacci0909

 

It's 45min halves, its a quicker game and over faster than US sports, so attention span can't have anything to do with it.

And if you look over the past few decades, its grown a lot of support.

edit on 20-8-2011 by DAZ21 because: mistake

yeah, attention span can still have something to do with it. you and I are smart enough to realize it takes less time than most American sports, but we're dealing with the minds of the average sports fan here, so... like, I said, they see more than 15 minutes on the clock, they think 'dagnabit that's a long time'. Also, as far as most are concerned, soccer is a slow-moving sport, like baseball. only reason baseball is so popular is because it's embedded in American history. and yeah, it has grown a lot more support over the past few decades, but so has golf. go figure

reply to post by bacci0909


Ok, I agree with most of your points, but football is a really fast moving fluid game.

I can see baseball, everyone standing around while a man swings a bat, but in football everyone always moving. The ball's always rolling, apart from a freekick of course. But the game is literally from one end to the other non-stop. It's exciting. In my opinion anyway.

I love all sports really though.

It's because Americans like something a little bit ''different'' in their sports.

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You can't expect them to play a real man's game.

Filthy lulz...filthy!

Could it be because it is only just getting cultural references via Hollywood and TV.?
The term Soccer Mom is a well used phrase now as are images of 'soccer' being participated in and previously the States had few if any cultural references to what we know as Football. These influences will take time to seep into the American consciousness but would expect to see it's market share and popularity grow as they do.

Lol @ Sherlock Holmes. I'm sure i could find a few images like that to do with Football also,

To all of you who are asking not to call it soccer, as a Scotsman i dont call it that, i call it football but i called it soccer in this thread to save confusing the Americans on here which is who the thread was primarily aimed at (for their opinio).

Thank you all for your responses, here's hoping the US does plough some decent money into the sport and promote it well because in all honesty, you have every other ingredient there to win the World Cup easily. I have strongly believed that you will win it anyways but maybe not for a few decades yet!

reply to post by jrmcleod


Hey jrmcleod, thanks for the post. Soccer is an enigma in the states. It IS big, but pro soccer is terrible here. The newest MLS team, Seattle, constantly SELL OUT - and they are in last place. The difficulty is that there has really only been as youth academy prepping US soccer for about twenty years.

Youth soccer has done a 100% turnaround here. It is now almost all competitive with only a handful of clubs (but there are a-g teams for each age group)...when I grew up, a local car repair man was my coach. Now, one of my buddies is a coach and he needs his "A" license to coach - in other words, you need to be able to coach a pro team to coach 11 year olds. He also is paid very well and he is a career little kids soccer coach -never in my time could an 11 year old girls soccer coach make over $50k a year - or his/her lifetime.

Also, just pointing out, as a Rangers fan you MUST be aware your team now has (3) Americans on it.
They just signed Carlos Bocanegra.

CJ