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Slimebeast said:

Two football players in my favorite team in my hown city here in Sweden recently announced that they will move to the USA and play for soccer teams there (in the league just below the MLS). They both said that one of the reasons was that they "like the American lifestyle". This got me thinking, what do they mean?

These football players in question aren't any stars here or anything, just mediocre players in a top team in our second league and life in the American second league won't exactly mean life in luxury and fame, so it's certainly not the "football life" itself over there that draws these guys.

What is the American lifestyle compared to a Western European lifestyle in concrete terms? Could you give examples of how your life would be different? Or is it more of a dream image many foreigners have based on the USA as a cultural superpower with the dominance of Hollywood films, pop music, glorious American history with all the cool wars America has participated in and so on?

1. MLS
2. NASL (Guessing you mean here)
3. USL

The United States is similar enough to make many foriegners feel comfortable.  ~98% of folks speak English, yet you can get cuisine from dozens of ethnic backgrounds (varies depends on where you are, but most cities have multiple immigrant communities).  Living in US and EU one major difference is expectations of house and transport.  Friend of mine from the UK couldn't believe the nice house he could get in suburbs that would cost 3x in the UK.  Car culture versus public transport has + and - , but know people that love the freedom it brings. Can travel pretty easily to several distinct climates and not worry about passport or currency issues.

In regards to sporting culture and soccer/football, one thing foriengers mention is how the lack of real negativity exist.  Sure, they may get booed or taunted, but the pressure is far less from local media and supporters.  Majoirty of the time people have positive attitude and cheer on their local club.  They also state never have to concern themselves with being harassed and just "be normal" and go shopping and raise their children.  Specifically know multiple South American players that state how much they love this aspect, guessing Europeans can also appreciate it.

My guess is these Swedish players will be embraced largely by the local supporters and live largely uneventful lives outside of match days where they can play in decent facilities (varies) and be cheered on (crowd size varies as well).

Any idea where they are going?  I know many Europeans tend to favor Florida or California due to weather.