State of Soccer In America

With the World Cup closing up this past Sunday, it is now a time to look at the State of Soccer, in terms of American soccer.  The World Cup to me has always been a weird phenomenon here in the States because it seems Americans back the US team just as much, if not more, than teams they have rooted for their whole lives, but after the team the US gets knocked out it seems the soccer is put on the back burner for another four years.  This brings up the inevitable question; will the 2014 World Cup finally mean a brighter future for the sport of soccer in America?

I'll admit I was a once every four years soccer fan until 2010.  Main reason for this is there was limited access to the sport.  Yes, America has a professional league in the MLS, but as sports fan it's tough to get behind a product where there are very few household name players.  While the MLS has definitely improved, over the last handful of years in particular it has brought over more high profile names, albeit players on the last leg of their careers, to the league, the league still seems to have the perception of being an inferior league to those in Europe. While the MLS may not excite people just yet, this includes myself, one of the benefits we now have living in America is being able to watch numerous games in Europe each week.  ESPN, FOX Soccer and NBCSN have all invested greatly since 2010 to make sure Americans have access to the best soccer games being played throughout the world each week.  NBCSN in particular through their on air network and online network airs every English Premier League game each week.  As an Everton fan this is great because while they have improved (finishing 5th this past season in the EPL) they still don't have the brand name recognition like Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have.  Even though Everton may not be a ratings draw to show on TV, as a fan I now have access to every game they play.

Through having this access over the last four years I personally came into this World Cup way more knowledgeable than I have ever been prior to a World Cup.  I knew where majority of the players played professionally and because of that had a better idea of what teams in the World Cup were good and what teams weren't.  Americans can no longer use the excuse that they have no idea who any players are in the World Cup.  I was actually listening to a podcast this past week hosted by Clay Travis of Fox Sports and he mentioned that Americans can watch more soccer games each weekend than someone living in England.  While watching games require some effort, since some start as early as 7:45 on a Saturday or Sunday morning, I have learned over the past couple of years, especially in the fall, that it is a great appetizer before "College Gameday" or all the NFL pre-game shows begin.

As for the game itself, I think this is where we as an American society have the toughest part embracing soccer.  As a whole America enjoys fast paced and action packed sports.  This is why football and basketball tend to dominate sports ratings.  Soccer as we know is a slower sport and you could go 90 minutes without one goal being scored and it leaves many people feeling like they just wasted two hours of their lives. I hope though that people through the World Cup were able to understand that there can be very entertaining 0-0 games, like Brazil and Mexico in the group stage. I will admit however there can be very boring 0-0 games as well, like the one between Argentina and the Netherlands in the semi-finals. I have always said as a sports fan, and in particular a Boston sports fan, one of the best games I have watched was when the Bruins beat the Lightening 1-0 in game 7 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals.  I hope games like that can remind sports fans that a game doesn't need a plethora of goals to be entertaining.  A lot of baseball fans will argue for instance that a 1-0 pitchers dual is far superior to a 11-10 slugfest.

It will take time to see if soccer truly catches on here in America.  I still think judging MLS attendances and ratings is not a valid way to see how popular the sport has become, but I think seeing how ratings are on NBCSN during their English Premier League coverage this upcoming season along with UEFA Champions League coverage on Fox Soccer and FOX Sports are better barometers because it is there where the best teams are showcased, and people can watch many of the names they grew to know during the last month of watching the World Cup.  As a US citizen and fan I really hope that the sport catches on, because the more popular the sport becomes, the more people will want to play it, and if more kids start playing it here, than the better the future will be for US soccer.  If the US soccer team really wants to make the next step, from being glad to getting out of group stage, to expecting to getting out of the group stage and winning in the knockout round, I think we need to get more players playing in Europe against the best competition in the world.  This will also help grow the game here in the States because if fans come to know who players are, then they will be more inclined to watch European soccer games which is a far superior product than that of the MLS.

I do believe the sport of soccer took a big step through the World Cup to being embraced by Americans, but we as Americans now have to take the effort to continue to learn about the sport and the players who play it.  I know soccer isn’t for everyone, it took me 25 years for instance to truly embrace it, but I do hope Americans will take the time this fall to watch a Premier League game or a Champions League game because it is during these games where they will see why the sport is beloved nearly everywhere else in the world.