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Sound Off: Is Football (Finally) on the Rise in America?

04:03 PM - June 23, 2014 by RaychelSnr

The World Cup is setting ratings records left and right, the US Men's National Team seems poised to possibly move onto the elimination round of the World Cup, and football (soccer) is on the minds of more people in America today than ever before.

Of course, this isn't the first time Americans have been excited about football. In fact, it's not even the first time we've heard that the sport is on the rise here. But perhaps, just maybe, the grand old sport of football is finally catching a break here in America.

The English Premiere league is on NBC, the MLS is drawing once thought impossible crowds, and more people are watching.

Sound off: Is this it? Is football finally on the rise in America? Will there be any maintenance at all of the momentum the sport has generated with a (thus far) fabulous World Cup?

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Member Comments

# 81 eyeamg0dly @ 07/03/14 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dickey1331


	With the NFLs problem with concussions and parents worried about their kids safety. It's just a matter of time before the NFL falls. They have nowhere to go but down. It may not be in 10 years or even 30 years but in my life time soccer will be a top sport in America. The MLS doesn't need to get rid of ties. If they want to succeed and be able to compete with Europe then we need to be more like them. Getting rid of ties will ruin the MLS.

The NFL will never fail at least not in our lifetime. The sport is embedded into American culture way too deep. If anything the sport will grow more, but honestly what happens in the NFL will not effect MLS or soccer in general.

I know you might argue that our country's top athletic prospects are going to our major sports and not soccer, but honestly think about how many of those top prospects even hit their potential or fall out because of injury or lack of interest in general. Soccer and baseball (t-ball) does tend to draw out the very young kids since you have to be a certain age to play tackle football. It has always been this way at least since I was a kid. It is just a matter of keeping them interested in the sport.

I think once we have world class American soccer players and the media really gives in and follows the sport across the world, we will see a dramatic swing in the popularity of the sport.

# 82 iTz BlaKe B @ 07/03/14 09:14 PM

Well they've gained me as a life long fan. If that's a indicator of anything.

# 83 inkcil @ 07/04/14 04:10 AM

As long as the best players in the world play in leagues in other countries, forget about it.

The reason why we love the NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA so much is because the best players in the world come here to play. Then they assign themselves with us geographically - Boston, Cleveland, LA, NY, Oakland, Philly, etc. There is a sense of community and family around the teams and their "top of the world class" players. That geographical connection is HUGE and it is something we'll never get from a League in another country. Sorry.

The minute the NFL becomes a European League and all of the worlds best players go there to play is the minute (i.e. the London Steelers and the Paris Raiders) that the NFL starts to fall off in America, and not a minute sooner.

Besides, where does the MLS rank in terms of World Leagues? Is it the 10th best? 20th? Someone please tell me because I listened to the commentary team on the ESPN FC call MLS highlights this week and they laughed their way through it. Some of you guys saw it too. They laughed through the whole highlight reel.

The World Cup is an International Spectacle akin to the Olympics in that it creates a passion centered around nationalism and pride. "Everybody" gets caught up all over the world, whether you follow the sport all year round or not. Do the masses follow gymnastics or sprinting all year round in America? No. But come the Olympics you couldn't tell.

Soccer is a great sport and America has room for it year round. But until the best players in the world come here to play in Jacksonville, in Dakota, in Seattle, in LA, in Chicago, in Charlotte - it will always be a "once every four year World Cup fling" that has as much or more to do with national pride and people wanting to chant "USA" than anything else.

# 84 eyeamg0dly @ 07/04/14 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by inkcil


	As long as the best players in the world play in leagues in other countries, forget about it. The reason why we love the NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA so much is because the best players in the world come here to play. Then they assign themselves with us geographically - Boston, Cleveland, LA, NY, Oakland, Philly, etc. There is a sense of community and family around the teams and their "top of the world class" players. That geographical connection is HUGE and it is something we'll never get from a League in another country. Sorry. The minute the NFL becomes a European League and all of the worlds best players go there to play is the minute (i.e. the London Steelers and the Paris Raiders) that the NFL starts to fall off in America, and not a minute sooner. Besides, where does the MLS rank in terms of World Leagues? Is it the 10th best? 20th? Someone please tell me because I listened to the commentary team on the ESPN FC call MLS highlights this week and they laughed their way through it. Some of you guys saw it too. They laughed through the whole highlight reel. The World Cup is an International Spectacle akin to the Olympics in that it creates a passion centered around nationalism and pride. "Everybody" gets caught up all over the world, whether you follow the sport all year round or not. Do the masses follow gymnastics or sprinting all year round in America? No. But come the Olympics you couldn't tell. Soccer is a great sport and America has room for it year round. But until the best players in the world come here to play in Jacksonville, in Dakota, in Seattle, in LA, in Chicago, in Charlotte - it will always be a "once every four year World Cup fling" that has as much or more to do with national pride and people wanting to chant "USA" than anything else.

Yet the people who actually follow the sport both here and abroad have no problems tuning in to watch top level soccer in Europe. If you and your friends don't follow it, then that is fine, nobody is judging. However that argument is flawed when you say nobody will watch the sport because the MLS isn't a top level league. What you should say is that hardcore american sports purist won't watch it.

MLS is designed to create playing time for american players for the world cup. That is why there is a limit to the number of foreign players per team. There are also other "american" rules like salary caps, draft, etc. As far as the league quality, Most would consider fairly close to English Championship which is one step down from Premier league.

# 85 inkcil @ 07/04/14 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeamg0dly


	Yet the people who actually follow the sport both here and abroad have no problems tuning in to watch top level soccer in Europe. If you and your friends don't follow it, then that is fine, nobody is judging. However that argument is flawed when you say nobody will watch the sport because the MLS isn't a top level league. What you should say is that hardcore american sports purist won't watch it. MLS is designed to create playing time for american players for the world cup. That is why there is a limit to the number of foreign players per team. There are also other "american" rules like salary caps, draft, etc. As far as the league quality, Most would consider fairly close to English Championship which is one step down from Premier league.

I thought it was clear that I was speaking in the context of Soccer rising to the level of the other major sports in terms of National interest and following. Of course many Americans watch the MLS, the Premier League and other world leagues year round, but is soccer on the rise in America? I would say no. In other words, for example if it was (hypothetically) the 8th most popular sport in America (behind the Big 4, X-games, Motorsports & Golf) before this World Cup it will not be 7th or higher when the Cup is done. Let the dust settle and check back in a year. It will still be 8th. IMO.

# 86 SteelersFreak @ 07/06/14 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeamg0dly


	The NFL will never fail at least not in our lifetime. The sport is embedded into American culture way too deep. If anything the sport will grow more, but honestly what happens in the NFL will not effect MLS or soccer in general. I know you might argue that our country's top athletic prospects are going to our major sports and not soccer, but honestly think about how many of those top prospects even hit their potential or fall out because of injury or lack of interest in general. Soccer and baseball (t-ball) does tend to draw out the very young kids since you have to be a certain age to play tackle football. It has always been this way at least since I was a kid. It is just a matter of keeping them interested in the sport. I think once we have world class American soccer players and the media really gives in and follows the sport across the world, we will see a dramatic swing in the popularity of the sport.

Honestly, in about 100 to 200 years I think history books will look back on American football and think "What the **** were they thinking?"

The more research they do on playing football, the worse and worse it looks for the health, football is either going to become non-existant or its going to become flag football, seriously. And its not necessarily because its really THAT dangerous, but when you have former pro players not allowing their kids to play football because of what happened to them, that tells you something and more importantly, it tells parents something.

# 87 dickey1331 @ 07/06/14 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by inkcil


	I thought it was clear that I was speaking in the context of Soccer rising to the level of the other major sports in terms of National interest and following. Of course many Americans watch the MLS, the Premier League and other world leagues year round, but is soccer on the rise in America? I would say no. In other words, for example if it was (hypothetically) the 8th most popular sport in America (behind the Big 4, X-games, Motorsports & Golf) before this World Cup it will not be 7th or higher when the Cup is done. Let the dust settle and check back in a year. It will still be 8th. IMO.

MLS isn't the 8th sport in America. They average more fans in the stadium than NHL and NBA and 8th overall in the soccer world. These are 2012 numbers so that was all before this World Cup.

# 88 DrJones @ 07/06/14 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dickey1331


	MLS isn't the 8th sport in America. They average more fans in the stadium than NHL and NBA and 8th overall in the soccer world. These are 2012 numbers so that was all before this World Cup.

So national popularity is determined by average number of fans that attend an event, regardless of stadium capacity, ticket price, number of events, merchandise sold, TV audience or TV revenue? By that logic, wouldn't NASCAR be far and away the most popular sport in America?

BTW, who's that in your av?

# 89 Cavani161 @ 07/06/14 11:50 AM

I think I posted this in another thread about the popularity of the sport. I coach a competitive team at the youth level, U12. Parents have told me they won't allow their kids to play football and it all has to do with the concussions in the news with the sport. Some of the kids play two sports, and this second sport is typically baseball. There's not one kid on my team that plays football, or on any of the other two U12 teams we have in the league.

On the 4th, I was at the high school on the football/soccer field for the fireworks and got there early, and there were more kids with soccer balls running around then there were kids with footballs throwing back and forth. Going back 10 years ago this probably wasn't the case.

American footballs popularity will be going down, based on it's issues of player safety and the global force that is soccer knocking on the door.

# 90 dickey1331 @ 07/06/14 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrJones


	So national popularity is determined by average number of fans that attend an event, regardless of stadium capacity, ticket price, number of events, merchandise sold, TV audience or TV revenue? By that logic, wouldn't NASCAR be far and away the most popular sport in America? BTW, who's that in your av?

Comparing it to baseball and basketball attendance is a little far fetched but comparing it to other soccer leagues and MLS being 8th in attendance is pretty damn good.

The guy I was replying to doesn't think MLS will ever be one of Americas top sports and that's just wrong. It may not be right now but it's going to be.

Also my avatar is Katy Perry

# 91 DrJones @ 07/06/14 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dickey1331


	The guy I was replying to doesn't think MLS will ever be one of Americas top sports and that's just wrong. It may not be right now but it's going to be.

I certainly agree that MLS is going to grow, but it depends how you want to define "top" sports, I guess. In terms of revenue, MLS has an extremely long way to go to catch the NHL, never mind the "Big Three". NHL revenue for 2014 is 3.7B $US (and will be more than 4B in 2015), which surpasses the Bundesliga, La Liga, and Serie A.

I'll be curious to see the TV ratings and US enthusiasm for the World Cup in 2018, where all games will an 8-10 hour time difference between Russia and the East Coast (as opposed to 5-6 hour time difference when the WC is held in western Europe). That's one of the reasons I think the USSF should push hard for a combined CONCACAF/CONMEBOL Copa America (with guaranteed US-friendly time zones) to become a regular event in between World Cups.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dickey1331


	Also my avatar is Katy Perry

Cool.

# 92 eyeamg0dly @ 07/07/14 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteelersFreak


	Honestly, in about 100 to 200 years I think history books will look back on American football and think "What the **** were they thinking?" The more research they do on playing football, the worse and worse it looks for the health, football is either going to become non-existant or its going to become flag football, seriously. And its not necessarily because its really THAT dangerous, but when you have former pro players not allowing their kids to play football because of what happened to them, that tells you something and more importantly, it tells parents something.

I don't think anyone who has played football knew of the future health risks and now are regretting they even played. I know I am. I severely dislocated my knee playing high school football. Two surgeries later and I am ready for a full knee replacement now. However I am way to young to have my knee replaced so I have to deal with the pain. Do I regret playing, yes, I would much rather trade my health over a chance of never playing past high school football. But guess what, you are just as much at risk of injury in any sport you play.

NFL might be having health problems with concussions and ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) but they aren't the only ones. Hell the disease is named after a baseball player and what is their risk to concussions compared to NFL players?Even soccer has concussion problems and IIRC is right behind football for concussions and ALS. The people who think some sports are relatively safe over others have very bad misconceptions about them.

# 93 iTz BlaKe B @ 07/07/14 03:28 AM

If it helps I'm from a single A region (The smallest possible in High School sports) and I'm pretty sure none of the schools had soccer but now several, enough where our region competes. There are even some schools in the region where the best player on the football team is a soccer player converted to kicker. The fact that in 4 years over half a region got soccer is pretty good growth. I think the biggest problem is unlike football or basketball most teenage kids don't even know the rules of soccer.

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