How big is soccer in the US? How much bigger will it get in the next decade?
>Soccer's popularity has tripled in the last decade >extended its edge over ice hockey to 3 percent >tied for second among 18 to 34 yo fans, ahead of baseball >ranked third among 35 to 54 yo fans Baseball is pretty much ded and there's no growth in basketball.
Also American football is declining >risks to NFL player safety and health exposed >youth pipeline drying up >teams moving, no connection to their supporters >people are actually put off by game length and commercials
It's hard to be a fan of most MLS teams due to them not spending money non talent. Most teams don't invest players. It feels really watered down.
European leagues are awesome and some committed fans watch them. The time difference sucks tho.
Aiden Wilson
MLS teams aren’t allowed to spend over a certain amount of money on players. There’s a cap.
Elijah Bell
Why do old Americans hate soccer so much?
Jason Walker
Because a smaller percentage of old Americans are Mexican.
Tyler Brooks
So basically only spics watch soccer, gotcha
Jaxson Nguyen
Soccer will grow as the Mexican population here continues to grow. They currently make up 11% of the US population, and surprise surprise, 11% of people 18-34 like soccer.
Every MLS team is allowed to designate 3 players as exempt from the cap. In theory, NYCFC could pay a player $100 million per year without going over the salary cap.
Alexander Gray
The rules of the MSL are dumb as hell. Remove any trace of Americaness like salary caps, no relegation, playoffs... Turn it into a real league
Also make American teams play in the Libertadores
Cooper Lewis
>Remove any trace of Americaness like salary caps, no relegation, playoffs... Turn it into a real league
It would die in a week if that happened. The league is losing money already. Liga MX and the Premier League are far more popular, and most MLS teams haven no real support or connection to their club. Walk around Chicago, ask somebody about "The Chicago Fire", they'll probably think you mean the literal fire that happened like 100 years ago.
>Also make American teams play in the Libertadores What the fuck is there to be gained from making American teams fly all the way to fucking South America only to be smashed repeatedly by FC Favela?
Christopher Gomez
>classical leagues are more popular than the MLS >hurrr if we turn our league into a classical league, it will die
Cameron Lewis
Soccer is one of the most tedious and embarrassing sports known to man. I pray that America never falls to the virus.
Christopher Murphy
Still a niche sport, you never see highlights on TV and it's not part of the culture in general. Messi could walk down the street and everyone would think he's just some random fag.
Plus Americans won't ever watch the MLS in large numbers because it's basically an amateur league, and the superior foreign league will be less popular here because they aren't American.
Nicholas Russell
They're not more popular because they're classical, you idiot. The Mexican league is more popular because most American soccer fans are Mexican. The Premier League is more popular because they have incredibly rich teams who can spend money on top players.
Christopher Harris
You don't need to hold that untrue opinion in order to be an ameriboo, la There are worse sports and you know it.
>the Premier League is better because they can spend money on top players >hurrr we will die if we remove the salary cap
Gabriel Miller
>the Premier League is better because they can spend money on top players They can spend money because they get tons of money from commercial deals and broadcasting rights. And the amount of money they spend is insane. Everton have a higher payroll than every single MLS team combined. And even with that low spending, MLS is *still* losing money. Imagine how it would be with no cap, the league would go bankrupt.
Gavin Stewart
I love watching the premier league on Saturday and Sunday mornings. However, I find MLS really fucking boring and hard to watch.
Tyler Stewart
It's from 2009. Maybe nowadays at least 2 people would have recognized him lol
Colton Cox
1 out of every 10 American males could correctly identify Messi
Elijah Sanchez
>They can spend money because they get tons of money from commercial deals and broadcasting rights. Because they're a classical league. The most classical, in fact.
Grayson Parker
>the league would go bankrupt. lmao, who gives a shit? what does that even mean? do you want to compete with Europe or not? Money is never a problem in the U.S.
Daniel Phillips
That's the point, in soccer it actually is hard to get that much money from soccer franchise profit
Adam Hernandez
Just get some hobbyists that want to funnel money into creating a super league
Nathaniel Jenkins
There was this guy who offered billions on the condition that they introduce promotion and relegation
Brandon Evans
Basically yanks are gloryhunters.
Caleb Rivera
Billionaires have no reason to invest if there's no return on that investment
Leo Bennett
I wish UEFA made an exception and let USA in even though it doesn't have a proper league format (which doesn't stop Liechtenstein from participating in EL anyway) and it's on another continent, for a couple of seasons at least. That way MLS could maybe wake up after realising their teams choke against teams like Partizan and Aalborg.
Nathan Reed
most people just dont care about it. Its not that we necessarily hate it, but we're just not good enough at it or theres our own sports on(baseball, football(in a decline ,but still extremely popular, especially by the time the super bowl rolls around), basketball)
Its getting a bit more popular, but you have to keep in mind most people have to be TOLD if we're playing in the World Cup or there's a friendly/qualifying match on
Carter Hall
>That way MLS could maybe wake up You think MLS teams, which nobody here watches, getting thrashed by low-level EL teams, which nobody watches, is going to have an impact on soccer in America?
Jeremiah King
it will never get big because regions like the south and the midwest will never accept it. it only has a following in large metropolitan areas with lots of immigrants. even then, i work with a lot of immigrants and they all adapted pretty well to american sports.
Lincoln Green
>poll includes political affiliation why?
Aaron Green
Probably because no one over 55 played it growing up
Colton Kelly
To confirm the non-spic audience is basically numale Clinton voters
Eli Jenkins
It's pertinent to the idea that football audiences' size and enthusiasm are contigent on political leanings
Jordan Young
See
Nolan Moore
I'm guessing soccer in the US attracts a rather large spic audience although this was excluded from the poll (political affiliation might confirm with her spics). Basketball fans are also with her. So you think basketball fans are basically numale Clinton voters too?
Still it's odd to include political affiliation in such a poll.
Noah Taylor
We need to develop youth academies based on talent and not on a pay to play mentality.
Oliver Cook
Problem is soccer is too low on the totem pole in the US to be attractive. In most other countries soccer is the most profitable sport someone can play, in the US it's like the 5th unless they are good enough to play abroad. Your only hope for youth academies is banking on Mexican immigrants.
Ian Russell
>Cup hosted in Florida >no MLS teams
really noggles my joggles
Austin Garcia
Even American football is losing ground. Soccer to overtake baseball before the end of this decade?