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Forums - General Discussion - Why is soccer so unpopular in the US?

Final-Fan on 08 March 2008
Apparently, "according to FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), the United States has more official soccer players than any other nation in the world - almost 18 million."  Does anyone have info on how that stacks up to, say, hockey? 

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CaptainPrefrences on 08 March 2008
StanGable said:
Because soccer was invented by european ladies to distract their husbands while they're cooking

 you know most likely your of european descent? if your white.



ssj12 on 08 March 2008

you know whats funny. The extreme sports like skateboarding, BMX, MotoCross, Snowboarding, etc are more popular then Soccer in America.



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CaptainPrefrences on 08 March 2008
Final-Fan said:
Apparently, "according to FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), the United States has more official soccer players than any other nation in the world - almost 18 million." Does anyone have info on how that stacks up to, say, hockey?

well yea come on now man. usa has what close to 300 million people?

its going to have a lot of everything. 



Kasz216 on 08 March 2008
rocketpig said:
I LOL at people saying hockey players are sissies.

Take a check at 25 MPH or faster and get slammed against the boards/glass. Let's see you call it a sissy sport after that. Actually, I'd like to see some of you say anything after that. Hockey, rugby, and American football are in their own class when it comes to violence.

You may laugh at American football players wearing pads and taking breaks between plays but when you're getting hit by 275 lb., 6"4" guys who run a 4.4 40, you would probably want a few breaks and some pads, too. Football players are ridiculously big.

Here's an example:

Shawne Merriman, Linebacker: 6'4", 272 lbs, 23 years old, ran a 4.61 40 yard dash at age 21.

That is bloody fast. I'm not knocking soccer players for they are great athletes with amazing endurance, but people who knock American football are ridiculous. Those guys are fuckin' huge and fuckin' fast. Meet an NFL player in real life and your jaw will hit the ground. 5'11" is considered ridiculously short in the NFL.

 Yeah... if you want to see the effects of Football... meet a football player who's retired and been out of the league for a couple years and talk to them.  They pretty much never are pain free.

They also all tend to die really early.  Of course so do wrestlers.. which while fake is also a lot more hazerdous work then people realize.



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Kasz216 on 08 March 2008
ion-storm said:
dgm6780 said:
comparing the lack of scoring in soccer to scoring in baseball shows a real lack of understanding of baseball.

averages for 2007

Red Sox 5.3 - 4.0 opponent (lowest in runs allowed)
Yanks 5.97 - 4.79 opponent
Pirates 4.46 - 5.22 opponent
Arizona 4.69 - 4.51 opponent (this was lowest in MLB, 9.2 runs per game)

a 5-4 game isnt in the same realm as a 1-0 or 2-1 game. With a 5-4 game, that means on average, 1 run was scored EVERY inning. and you are comparing that to a game were you wait 45 minutes just to see a scoring opportunity.

and lets not forget the stupidity of playing out an entire game and ending it in a tie. (but hell soccer could go on for days trying to break a tie)
lets also not forget the stupidity of allowing the head referee to decide when the game will end, he adds on time at the end of a game, and the ammount of time added is wholely up to him and it isnt announced.

but you were right about one thing, soccer is BORING. i think the main draw for some Euros is the drinking/chanting/singing/fighting/family tradtitions and nothing do with the actual game.

soccer is popular worldwide because all it takes is a ball, not much equipment and you can play. so poor families, in poor nations can play it from the time they are young. (thats not true for baseball, basketball, or football - they are expensive to play/setup organized leagues)




oh and hockey isnt a major sport here in the US anymore. but atleast they were smart enough to do away with ties. and its not out of the realm that it could become a major sport again - say if they signed a deal to get weekly games on ESPN.

You might want to check up on that little fact :)

You can have a good game without lots of goals. Fast paced end to end action with some great skill. Appreciate the skill, watch the action, don't assume a 0 - 0 game has to be boring.

 

@Rocketpig

You should really be comparing american football to rugy as the two sports have more in common than with "soccer". Rugy plays are massive as well. Also run just as fast if not faster, don't take ridiculous amounts of breaks and don't wear the same vast quantity of pads.

http://www.rugbygamers.com/home/2-articles/5-Fastest%20rugby%20player?tmpl=component&print=1&page=

That said. Everyone has their own preference of what they like to watch. I like football (soccer), rugby and ice hockey.

 

For a real hardcore game try hurling. Take a hard hard ball, get stick, hit at person height with stick at up to 90mph. Now try being the goal keeper with no pads :P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling


Rugby players also take much less contact. The only one getting hit at full speed is ususally the guys with ball. In Football everyone is going to be taking heavy contact on most plays. (aside the QB unless your team sucks.)

Here is a good example that explains why American Football is actually pretty brutal in comparison to Rugby despite the pads.

http://wesclark.com/rrr/pads_and_helmets.html

Lingyis on 08 March 2008

sometimes these things are just a cultural phenomenon... soccer never has that critical mass of support.

i thought i'd be seeing a popular argument some people like to make: it has no interruptions aside from halftime and that leaves TV network few opportunities for ads.

i don't for a second buy that argument, but it's a popular one nonetheless.

another popular argument is the "attention span" of americans. they like instant gratification... whereas supporting soccer seems to be part of a fan's lifestyle. to truly appreciate a soccer game i think you really need to follow the drama that is 90 minutes of ebb and flow.

that seems to make a little more sense... but still not enough.

so to me, it's just culture. soccer never accumulated the critical mass to take off in the US, and with baseball, football and basketball already with roots firmly established, i don't see it happening anytime soon, if ever.



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pastro243 on 08 March 2008

I guess its because they are just bad at it. Most US sports take raw atlhetic skills like just running, pushing, etc... Football(soccer) takes a lot of skill and practice to be good, though u can be bad and still enjoy it.

One of my schoolmates moved to the USA, he was in the football team and he was one of the rest, and now he plays there and he was chosen the best player of a state(I cant remember which one), I mean, he wasnt even the best one here, and Im not talking from a country which is know to be great at football(chile).



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Kasz216 on 08 March 2008
omgwtfbbq said:
dgm6780 said:
comparing the lack of scoring in soccer to scoring in baseball shows a real lack of understanding of baseball.

averages for 2007

Red Sox 5.3 - 4.0 opponent (lowest in runs allowed)
Yanks 5.97 - 4.79 opponent
Pirates 4.46 - 5.22 opponent
Arizona 4.69 - 4.51 opponent (this was lowest in MLB, 9.2 runs per game)

a 5-4 game isnt in the same realm as a 1-0 or 2-1 game. With a 5-4 game, that means on average, 1 run was scored EVERY inning. and you are comparing that to a game were you wait 45 minutes just to see a scoring opportunity.

and lets not forget the stupidity of playing out an entire game and ending it in a tie. (but hell soccer could go on for days trying to break a tie)
lets also not forget the stupidity of allowing the head referee to decide when the game will end, he adds on time at the end of a game, and the ammount of time added is wholely up to him and it isnt announced.

but you were right about one thing, soccer is BORING. i think the main draw for some Euros is the drinking/chanting/singing/fighting/family tradtitions and nothing do with the actual game.

soccer is popular worldwide because all it takes is a ball, not much equipment and you can play. so poor families, in poor nations can play it from the time they are young. (thats not true for baseball, basketball, or football - they are expensive to play/setup organized leagues)




oh and hockey isnt a major sport here in the US anymore. but atleast they were smart enough to do away with ties. and its not out of the realm that it could become a major sport again - say if they signed a deal to get weekly games on ESPN.

It's exactly this kind of American attitude of "if people aren't scoring nothing is going on" which will make soccer struggle over there. Soccer is an amazing sport when you understand the subtleties and I've seen some of the most incredible games of my life end up as 0-0 draws. But if all you're after is watching the ball go into the goal then you're better off watching basketball. Saying baseball is more interesting because more runs are scored has to be one of the weakest arguments I have ever heard.

However, I will definitely agree with your bolded line there. This is the biggest reason why soccer is the most popular sport in the world.

 


It's not all that.  After all some of the most cherished games in Baseball are No-hitters and perfect games, the pitching duel is often popular among baseball fans too.

I think it's just not popular because other sports got popular here first.

I mean.  Hockey is declining rapidly in the national eye but it still has a lot of supporters that go to the stadium.

This however is being offset by Nascar... for some reason.

I mean the No scoring arguement kinda falls apart with Nascar.  As does a "low attention span" arguement.

There is no scoring in Nascar and you really aren't going to know for sure who is going to when until the last 5 laps of the race or so.

Nascar is basically all subtlelness.  There are so many strategies and teamwork actually matters a lot more then you think.  It's a lot like Soccer in this way.  Perhaps even less "score" oreiented since you are left in the dark until the last 5 laps or so.

 



Kasz216 on 08 March 2008

Also, I think Soccer isn't popular in America because you can't gamble on it.

At least not as well as other sports.

Well not really. Lots of people are fans of soccer. They just like playing it more then watching it. It's usually something people love to do up till about college... then for whatever reason they lose interest.

I like Soccer but don't really like MLS.  So i really can't catch any games outside of ones on TV at random days at like 4-5 in the morning occasionally on ESPN.

Or the World Cup.  Then I just put it on Telemundo and watch all the games.  I don't know Spanish but their announcers are still better.