Why Soccer sucks and always will

[Johnny Cool]

Well, no not quite. But I wanted to start a thread about the idea that the reason Soccer hasn't caught on in the United States.

Now, one of the popular theories is that a lack of exposure or the lack of a great league is what is keeping Soccer form catching on in the US.

But I'd contend that the reason Soccer hasn't, and won't, catch on in the US is the product on the field.

Look, the World Cup was in America. Every world cup is played up over here in part because of the large immigrant population. There is a professional soccer league that got national exposure before low ratings convinced ESPN2 that showing the national spelling bee is a better use of their time.

So it's not that the game isn't seen. It's that the game does not appeal to North Americans.

So the question is a two parter. 1) Could soccer appeal to North Americans? and 2) how?

The answer to the first question is probably not but there's a possibility. If soccer didn't take off after World Cup 94 then I don't think it happening is a real possibility.

So any ideas on how soccer might become popular in the states?

I have an idea but it's a farfetched one.

 

[jass1960]

Well, no not quite. But I wanted to start a thread about the idea that the reason Soccer hasn't caught on in the United States.

Now, one of the popular theories is that a lack of exposure or the lack of a great league is what is keeping Soccer form catching on in the US.

But I'd contend that the reason Soccer hasn't, and won't, catch on in the US is the product on the field.

Look, the World Cup was in America. Every world cup is played up over here in part because of the large immigrant population. There is a professional soccer league that got national exposure before low ratings convinced ESPN2 that showing the national spelling bee is a better use of their time.

So it's not that the game isn't seen. It's that the game does not appeal to North Americans.

So the question is a two parter. 1) Could soccer appeal to North Americans? and 2) how?

The answer to the first question is probably not but there's a possibility. If soccer didn't take off after World Cup 94 then I don't think it happening is a real possibility.

So any ideas on how soccer might become popular in the states?

I have an idea but it's a farfetched one.

I think it could take off if you stopped the game every 3 minutes and had an ad break! - That's exactly what the game needs in the US!

 

[markb325]

The popularity of soccer increases each year in the US. Just a little something to throw in.

 

[bluespoke]

Association Football

(soccer to our colonial cousins!)

will never catch on in America. No TV company is going to go 45 minutes without breaks for adverts, twice in a two hour period.

Unless some corrupt idiot like Blatter turns it into a game of four quarters it is not going to happen.

 

[SINthysist]

Man, places like Johnson County Kansas are turning good productive farmland into soccer fields at a frenzied rate.

At my age, I was raised on baseball, baseball, baseball...

But kids I teach now tend to do Spring, Summer, and Fall soccer (and the real serious ones do indoor soccer in the winter).

I figure another 20 years for that groundswell to begin to have a noticable effect on our viewing habits.

 

[SINthysist]

Blues, they'll run ads continually using split screen, overviewing, patches on uniforms, the little bubble like in car racing that points to the car they are talking about (like the fans don't know!). Hell even the ball will be changed to sport the Nike logo...

 

[bluespoke]

Blues, they'll run ads continually using split screen, overviewing, patches on uniforms, the little bubble like in car racing that points to the car they are talking about (like the fans don't know!). Hell even the ball will be changed to sport the Nike logo...

Apart from the split screen, we've got that already but it's Addidas on the ball!

 

[SINthysist]

Man I thought Addidas hadn't been on the ball for slightly over a decade...

They're still in business?

 

[bluespoke]

Man I thought Addidas hadn't been on the ball for slightly over a decade...

They're still in business?

Must be, it's certainly their ball.

 

[SINthysist]

The more I think about it, the more I see soccer as the perfect advertising medium. Something to kill the boredom...

 

[427cobra]

i've never thought much of soccer and i still don't. when i was a little kid right into my teens a lot of the pther kids around were soccer players. talk about prima donnas and egomaniacs! i've yet to meet a soccer player who hasn't believed he was the greatest player;/athelete ever. i always used to semi-joke with them the while they're worrying about kicking the little ball around the field i'd be the guy racing cars, sailing boats, and trying to learn to fly a plane......and by the way getting more girls.