I think the problem is that Americans arent really interested in soccer overall. We could be the best.. We can win all the World Cups! People around the world dont even care about american football, and only some european counties care little about basketball..
Not only that but in all irony virtually every elementary school I've seen has the 8 x 24 in the playground.
I remember when I was going from school to school being a military brat that at each school they were usually climbed on or used as an endzone for an "American" football game... which was dangerous.
Either you don't pay attention or are in denial about football/soccer in the USA.
Americans bought the second most tickets to the world cup next to Brazilians.
Soccer stadiums have bigger crowds than the NBA in the USA. The MLS is attracting big time European players from Europe and the USA national team did a great job in the group of death and the USA football/soccer federation is doing what Germany did to concentrate on player and youth development into one mindset for training all Americans across the USA.
I would say pay for professional US soccer players is a big issue, but not the largest factor in it not being common just yet.
To give an example that I think applies to much of the US: My high school never even *had* a soccer program until I was a Junior. By that point, I had zero interest in getting involved in the sport. I was raised on baseball, football, basketball, golf, track&field, and cross country as the only "real" sports.
Soccer is taking off in the US, you just have to give it time to proliferate though the youth going through the programs. There are many programs that are new/ just starting, so it is natural to think that interest is catching on. It takes getting involved in the sport as a youth and growing up with it to truly appreciate it, which is true for essentially every area of life. We are our environment.
I'd say, based on my own observations made in conservative-about-change Indiana, we'll see a very sharp rise in interest for soccer in the next decade.
Am I interested in soccer at this very moment? Nah, not really. But I don't appreciate those who bash it constantly. It's a sport, like any other, and obviously requires a lot of hard work and dedication to perfect your craft. Could I be interested in the future? You know, I can't really rule that one out. I'll probably still watch my Cincinnati Reds more often than not, but sitting down and watching a Soccer game on TV doesn't seem all too bad.
Kinda cool that we're witnessing the birth of a "new" sport in the United States....... it's sociocultural evolution at its finest. :)
That, alone, is interesting to me. Watching an idea take hold in the youth and watching it grow into a change for the better is an amazing notion to behold.
Well... I disagree with you there. I'm sure most Americans believe they can win them all, but consider this.
These games you're talking about are usually only played by Americans and aren't that popular in other countries. Baseball is, to a degree, but nowhere near soccer. Hell, the. US even has more registered hockey players than Canada does, yet they still get dominated by Canadians in hockey. Which brings me to my next point...
I think the popularity of a sport has more to do with tradition than anything else. I mean... How else can you explain the popularity of baseball?
