Soccer mass appeal in the US seems hopeless - MLS championship games draws less than a 1% TV rating
Michigan
Posts: 4,942 ✭
in Sports Talk
0.7 in fact, its lowest rating for a championship game since 1997.
In the 1970s Pele was supposed to be the magic bullet that finally caused a breakthrough in mass appeal for soccer in the US, Freddie Ado
was another big deal that fell flat and then the biggest hype machine of all - Beckham has also failed.
MLS and ABC/ESPN must be wondering what more can they do.
Soccer is a niche sport in the US and probably always will be.
In the 1970s Pele was supposed to be the magic bullet that finally caused a breakthrough in mass appeal for soccer in the US, Freddie Ado
was another big deal that fell flat and then the biggest hype machine of all - Beckham has also failed.
MLS and ABC/ESPN must be wondering what more can they do.
Soccer is a niche sport in the US and probably always will be.
0
Comments
Seriously, I remember when I was growing up in the 70's and early 80's that soccer was the biggest youth sport in America. So it just goes to show how the sport is what it is and it's doing about all they are going to do. Plus it's a culture thing as well. It's big time in Europe and in other countries. Down here in the Los Angeles South Bay area I've made the mistake of being near the Home Depot center when Chivas USA or the LA team is playing and that whole area is packed. But again, it looks like a latin crowd.
Brian
The only reason I know this is because I read it online. I also read once we have an Arena Football team called the Destroyers?
The MLS win was the same weekend as the Ohio State - Michigan game and received almost no coverage.
Fewer than 100 people were on hand last night to greet them when the Crew returned to Columbus.
In the Home Of The Buckeyes it's all about the Buckeyes. All the time. If it's not Buckeyes it's not chit!
Shane
<< <i>What is soccer? >>
Kickball for drama queens.
Member ANA, SPMC, SCNA, FUN, CONECA
Watch the Champions League finals.
Watch the Euro Championships (only every four years)
Watch the World Cup (only every four years)
None of these events will take up that much of your life. You'll still have plenty of time to go watch a bunch of drugged up thugs pound on each other for three hours every Sunday and Monday nights.
There is a reason why soccer is not called ‘football’ in America…soccer sucks. American football is far better and far superior than the world’s so-called most popular sport, which for some reason is also called ‘football.’ If this is confusing don’t worry about, Americans already have it figured out.
American sports fans decided to call this ridiculous sport ‘soccer’ a long time ago, and gave the term 'football' to a far better, more appealing sport.
I am not writing this to offend anyone, or to attract more readers. The fact is that soccer is boring and it simply makes no sense. The goal is bigger than a two-car garage, but yet nothing happens for 86 minutes! Guys are running (and walking) all over this massive field, yet nothing ever happens.
Most Americans view soccer as just a big game of keep away. Why the rest of the world continues to play this sport is beyond comprehension. I will always fail to understand what makes soccer so great and so fun to watch. Soccer fans shout at me ‘you just don’t understand.’ I agree.
* I don’t understand how a sport can have an ‘offsides’ penalty when that is the only way a teams can have an offensive advantage.
* I don’t understand why professional athletes can’t put a round ball in a goal the size of Rhode Island.
* I don’t understand how anyone can get excited about one goal being scored during 86 minutes of play.
*I don’t understand why soccer players are so fragile. One minute they are being hauled off on a stretcher and ten minutes later the same guy is scoring a break-away goal!
* I don’t understand how 100,000 fans can start a fire and riot after a 1-0 contest. Maybe they looked elsewhere to cure their boredom.
* I don’t understand why David Beckham has to look like a girl.
<< <i>What is soccer? >>
Hockey on grass
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
<< <i>it is not a hit in the US because you Americans have short attention spans.ALL you programmes are interupted every 2 minutes with commercials.In the UK on the BBC,the law says no more than 4 minutes of commercials PER HOUR. Hence the longer attention span, hence 45 minutes each way. >>
Pretty funny considering you're a Canadian.
those two Thanksgiving days made me sleepier than all the turkey in the house.
good thing I had the internet to watch a replay of some Champions League soccer.
NFL sucks - pads and helmet are for queers. Anyone who says different never played soccer (usually some fat slob on a couch)
<< <i>because its a snoozefest with a bunch of flopping fakers who would rather play with each others balls than score a goal
ding ding ding ding
and don't forget the magic spray
JS
How many people do you think can be bothered to watch the superbowl in England (my home country in case your mind has wandered) The not so super bowl isn't even on until midnight on a sunday!!!.
Ask ANYONE in England to name any US Football player and the ONLY name you will get is>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>OJ Simpson. What about the world series exactly the world what would be your reply..Don't forget football (your version) is like rugby but wirh pads and helmets,baseball cane from crickett. I bet your ultimate fighting probably originated from the soccer fans in England (my home country)fighting amongst themselfs.
So give your head a shake and watch a advert (commercial)
GO ENGLAND GO
And I'll never understand the "pansy" knock against footballers. No doubt there's a lot of diving and acting in the game, but when you get down to it, most players are tough as nails. Maybe the toughest if you could come up with some kind of pound-for-pound way to quantify mettle.
Province/State: British Columbia
Country: Canada
E-mail address: jfryer2@shaw.ca
Only thing worse than a French Canadian is an Englishman anywhere but England.
Archie Leach: Wanda, do you have any idea what it's like being English? Being so correct all the time, being so stifled by this dread of, of doing the wrong thing, of saying to someone "Are you married?" and hearing "My wife left me this morning," or saying, uh, "Do you have children?" and being told they all burned to death on Wednesday. You see, Wanda, we'll all terrified of embarrassment. That's why we're so... dead. Most of my friends are dead, you know, we have these piles of corpses to dinner. But you're alive, God bless you, and I want to be, I'm so fed up with all this. I want to make love with you, Wanda. I'm a good lover - at least, used to be, back in the early 14th century. Can we go to bed?
As for the rest of your rant: pffft
<< <i>Well said Sir, I aso fogot another player the Brits could name would be Michael Vick. >>
Careful now, lest one of us Ugly Americans play the Joey Barton card.
So anyway, back on the subject of soccer. Little kids in America play soccer until they realize that it's not any fun. Then they get into the real sports of football, baseball and basketball. We like action and scoring in this country......we also like to win. That's why our games have scoring and don't end in ties.
Don't bash all our commercials either. That's when we flip channels to the other game, hit the bathroom or grab another beer. We don't sit around watching lawn bowling and sipping tea with our pinkies in the air.
<< <i> We like action and scoring in this country. >>
That's why a lot of kids don't play sports at all, and would prefer the back seat of a car.