Why Americans will never embrace soccer

When Rodrigo over at Brasil Mundial FC wrote to me on Monday, I thought his question deserved a post. He wanted to know how Americans reacted to the historic U.S. vs. Brazil game on Sunday. He also asked, "Is soccer finally getting in the hearts of Americans?"

Officially, here is what happened. Soccer enthusiasts hoped that the surprising occasion would inspire more Americans to be interested in the game, and would attract new followers. The sports sections of the U.S. media widely covered the game, highlighting the big disappointment of the loss but also the hope inspired from getting so far. I watched the game with Eli, my brother, and my cousin, but I'm not sure I would have if Eli hadn't been here (let it be known that I don't follow any sports, but ever since I moved to Brazil and back, I've watched some of the important soccer games). ESPN reported that the game was the most-watched non-World Cup soccer game on cable TV [in American history?], with 3.9 million viewers in 2.6 million homes.

Now compare these ratings to the big U.S. sports, and 3.9 million is easily dwarfed. The 2009 Superbowl attracted a whopping 151.6 million American viewers, while the first game of the 2004 World Series was watched by 23 million viewers. The 2009 NBA Finals had 13.4 million viewers. Even the Stanley Cup, featuring America's less popular sport, hockey, brought in over 9 million viewers during the last game in 2009. The bigger question about Sunday's game was not how many Americans watched it, but how many Americans actually knew it was going on.

There are plenty of arguments as to why soccer has never become a popular spectator sport in the United States: it's too slow, it's too low-scoring, it has less action than say, American football.

But I would argue that three fundamental issues prevent soccer from taking its place in the ranks of American sports. The first is that we already have too many popular sports: football, baseball, basketball, hockey, even golf, tennis, and Nascar. The American appetite for sports is pretty much satiated, year round.

The second is that the real heart of any sport is regionalism. Even in Brazil, fans pour most of their energy into their city team (except during the World Cup), and those games are really some of the most exciting. Similarly, in the US, our most important games take place at the regional level in the domestic arena, rather than at the international level. (This is another strike against soccer, since some of the biggest games are international.) Also, regional US soccer teams have been written off, simply because so few people care. It would be difficult to have a genuine soccer movement without a serious popularization at the regional level.

The final issue is that there are certain sports that Americans follow, but only at very specific times, namely, during the Olympics. Since our major spectator sports are mostly domestic affairs, these sports are international, when we are given the chance to root for the US as a country, rather than a local team. While swimming, track and field, and gymnastics are huge draws during the Games, much fewer people care or watch them on a normal basis. We have a specific set of sports set aside to root for during the Olympics and to forget about for the next few years. So I have to disagree with this bit from the New York Times' June 28th article by William Rhoden, on Sunday's game and its impact on American soccer:

"The more difficult challenge is to cultivate a broader consumer appetite for soccer in the United States. Debates continue about changing the nature of the sport to fit the American mind-set.

Please, no.

Soccer does not need to be dumbed down to accommodate our Twittered attention span. The sport does not need more scoring or more commercial timeouts.

“People don’t need the sport to be different,” Garber said. “They just need a reason to believe, and every now and again, something happens where they have that reason.”

That’s the greatest misfortune of Sunday’s loss to Brazil. A victory would have been that reason."

It's possible that soccer could enter the pantheon of American spectator sports, but only in that special bracket of "once every four years" sports, like swimming. Instead of the Olympics, though, the big draw would be during the World Cup to root for the national team. Other than that, I don't anticipate soccer entering the ranks of football and baseball. It's just not our style.

Comments

[Ernesto]

Fantastic analysis!

[Corinne]

The frustrating thing about soccer in the US is that it is widely played by youth in the US, much more than either football or baseball. It breaks down at the professional level. Some say that the college sport system, that works so well for football and basketball, puts US players on an international stage several years later than most other countries (Ronaldo was 17 when he went pro). The regional teams DO have followings (DC United is a prime example), but I agree that not enough to really make soccer compete with football or baseball. Even the World Cup win of the women´s team only sparked a very short-lived interest. However, I am still not convinced soccer is not "our style" and I keep rooting for the US to win the World Cup someday (like maybe 2014 :)).

[Greg]

"The first is that we already have too many popular sports: football, baseball, basketball, hockey, even golf, tennis, and Nascar. "

PLease, please, PLEASE...... you have AMERICAN football - not football. Americans insist on calling the game "soccer" (which is really a colloquialism") but the official name for the game is FOOTBALL.

The rest of the world (which is far larger in population and physical size than the USA) calls the game "football" or a derivative of it (futebol" in Brazil, fussball in Germany etc.) In the UK we also have Rugby football - which is closer to the premise of American football - but the general name for that game is rugby.

I do agree mostly with your analysis of why football is not as popular in the USA; unfortunately most of the best players from other continents are siphoned off to European clubs where they can earn more money and hone their skills.

"There are plenty of arguments as to why soccer has never become a popular spectator sport in the United States: it's too slow, it's too low-scoring, it has less action than say, American football."

I can't agree with you there... football is no way too slow with less action. Just watch some Premier League games or Spanish league games. non-stop action (usually) with loads of skill. You should have seen Iniesta ans Alves (of Barcelona FC) controlling the European Cup final against Manchester United. The game doesn't stop evety couple of minutes like American Football. Even De Nilson (a Brazilian international player who plays for Arsenal in the English Premier league) complained that the English game was too fast.

If you want a high-scoring game then watch cricket (although that game is TOO slow for me).

[writingupinrio]

With the influx of immigrants from Latin America (and other soccer-crazed regions in the world), I think soccer in the US will experience a sharp rise in popularity in the next decade. Don't be surprised if the US-Brazil scoreboard reads differently in 10 years--okay, maybe 20!

[Neil]

Soccer (as the sport will always be referred to in the US-no offense intended) is definitely enjoying strong growth in popularity in the US. For the Brazil/US game there was palpable excitement here in NYC. Local bars around the city were filled with US (and Brazilian) soccer fans watching the game and there is real hope that the US is reaching new levels in international soccer. As a disappointed Langdon Donovan said after the game, "we don't want respect, we want to win".

[Dani]

Part of the problem could be that a lot of American males don't consider soccer a sport. While I disagree, I see this attitude a lot. There's not as much violence as say hockey or american football (at least not here, soccer hooligans in England is another story I guess but it just doesn't happen here), and no chances for car crashes like in nascar. Violence seems to sell here.. just an observation.

[Ryan]

As someone who loves both football (sorry Greg, Americans aren't going to call our football American football) and futbol I think it's possible for the game of the world to semi-flourish in the country. As stereotypically American as it may sound I believe the key is to develop one, or several, flashy superstar midfielders or forwards who can make creative plays and score goals.

Let's face it, as Americans we love creative flashy play and want to watch players who entertain us regardless of the sport. Alot of non-basketball fans tune in just to watch LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, not because they like the game but because both players are incredible performers and you don't have to be an expert to know how good they are. I would submit that if the US could develop a Robinho or Fernando Torres type of player the sport could truly take off (this may be possible should Jozy Altidore continue to develop). The US produces world class goalkeepers and even some solid defenders, but watching a save or a tackle isn't gonna excite too many non-soccer folks. For example, if I say the name Tim Howard to the average American sports fan they have no idea the guy is one of the top 10 players in the world at his position because he stops goals instead of scoring them.

However, if there was a world class player who could provide athletic and creative Sportscenter worthy highlights and goals on a regular basis then I believe the American public would grow more and more intrigued which would naturally generate interest, and more importantly, a higher level of understanding of the beautiful game.

[Tim]

I read in interesting thing in high school that argued that private television companies prevented soccer (this is an American blog, we're using it's American name) from becoming popular in the US back in the 50s and 60s (about the same time that the NBA, NFL and NHL all began to become popular spectator sports) because there was no way to sell advertising time during the game except during half time because of the running clock. Other sports that are popular in the US all have breaks in play that allow in-game advertising so private television companies could make more money during the games. On the other hand, it argued that in places like Britain, state run channels like the BBC that did not rely on advertising to make money were more willing to show soccer because it didn't matter to them if there were breaks during play. I think it's an interesting argument, and really, until the advent of cable television and all-sports channels like ESPN, it was almost impossible to find a soccer game on TV in the US. It's very hard to develop a mass following for a sport if it's never on TV.

[bart]

I think the main issue that prevents soccer from being popular on united states was stated by William Rhoden: " commercial timeouts".

I dont think its because of low scoring or speed... Popular sports in USA share one thing in common: a lot of timeouts.

Basketball is like that, Football is like that, hell even nascar have timeouts with the yellow flag.

American audience just cant focus on a soccer match 45 minutes straight. And I ask you, why is that?
I mean soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world, but not in America. Why cant americans focus on a long match? I guess is just cultural. You are just not used to it.

[Ernest Barteldes]

The truth is that Americans love home-grown sports and have little patience for imports It's not the huge scores or anything like that. You see baseball games
and more often than not innings end at 0-0. Even after three hours. I think it's more of a cultural thing.

[Rio Gringa]

Greg, we don't call elevators lifts or cookies biscuits, why should we call soccer football? Each country has a different culture and dialect, you know.

Tim, I think you hit on the most important reason of all, I'm bummed I didn't think of it. As with many things in the US, it boils down to money and corporations, and I think that makes the most sense out of all the reasons!

[Ray Adkins]

Tim,

I think you hit the nail on head!
That makes total sense...

Greg,

Most of the world calls it Subway, not Tube or Underground, why do you Brits insist on calling it Tube? ;)
Most of the world calls it line, why do you guys insist on calling it queue?
Most of us call it trunk, you guys insist on calling it boot!
Most of us call it butt, you guys INSIST on calling it fanny!
US-Condo - UK- Flat...
I think you got the idea!!!

Cheers

Ray

[Greg]

Ray.... You're in the wrong area regarding the word "fanny" (you need to take a tour from the U.S. butt around to the front of the female form to discover what we Brits call the fanny) ;-) We call the butt a "bum", "bottom", or "arse" (not "ass" as you Americans like to call it). An ass is another mame for a donkey in the UK.

Sorry - I agree with you all regarding the linguistic differences, but the term football is considered a special case by the large majority OUTSIDE of the USA... call it the exception to the rule if you like.

Abraços para todo mundo.

[Rio Gringa]

Greg,

You're wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_did_Football%27s_nickname_Soccer_originate

[Rodrigo Sirico]

Sorry for the late comment. I found your post very good. As I suspected, soccer is still a bit far away from getting into american's hearts.

I also think the way people call the sport doesn't really matter. Italy won the last World Cup (their fourth in all time) and call soccer "Calcio".

By the way, in my oppinion, the label of women's sport soccer has in America makes the job of turning it popular even harder.

Thank's for the attention, regards, Rodrigo.

[Colin]

@greg - Soccer is slow. By any way you measure it - avg goals / minute, avg highlight-able plays / minute, avg scoring opportunities / minute - soccer is slow. In the big 4 American sports, a scoring opportunity is possible in any given moment. Soccer is very slow.

I don't think the slow pace of soccer is an insurmountable obstacle to winning American fans. Baseball can be painfully slow, and it's the national pastime.

I don't think the lack of violence is an issue either, since baseball and basketball don't have big hits but are still among the big 4.

Commercial timeouts have presented a problem in the past, but I don't think they will in the future. Once the one-minute breaks in action during boxing matches didn't pay the bills, the sport moved to HBO and Showtime. As technology and the economy advances, more and more people have premium television channels. Demand is the only missing piece.

There is one change to the sport that may (and should) be made for the American audience, a change that can't be blamed on Twitter-ized attention spans. This change regards the dives that players make - the faking injuries and acting as if they're hurt in order to draw a penalty. Americans have a strong sense of fair play and toughness; they'll get angry at seeing all the diving and appealing for penalties that soccer players do.

Unfortunately, it's in the best interest of soccer players to dive with so few scoring opportunities. If a player can turn a thwarted fast break into a penalty kick, and if he can score on that kick, the initial dive can change the outcome of the game.

An American buddy who loves soccer told me he couldn't watch soccer for months after the 2006 World Cup. He said watching the Italians play temporarily ruined the sport for him for this exact reason. If Americans ever start watching, I predict that soccer will start penalizing players for diving as they do in hockey.

I think the only substantive obstacle for soccer in America is that Americans rarely win. Americans are super-proud and need to bask in their American dream. They need to feel that they're inherently the best at everything. Americans can't watch their national team lose to countries like France.

Once Americans start winning, Americans will watch.

[Elvis]

Everyone is undermining the huge latin american influx into the USA! Being mexican-american I could see every single game of the mexican league. Take for example 90% oftheHoustonDynamos (MLS team) are latinos. Having said that latinos are the largest minority in the USA. Soccer is the fast growing sport in the USA. Give it a couple of years! But US soccermust really tap to the latino base!