Am sure Gullit was referring to the media. Had the sports media been very supportive, Soccer would have been among the top 3 popular sports in the U.S. by now. You stated that whenever the USA plays in a World Cup, people follow them and watch the games. That’s good but they also need to watch games not involving the U.S. team. If they only watch when the U.S team is playing then that’s bad because if the U.S team gets knocked out then they are no longer interested in watching the remaining games (not even the World Cup Final). IMO, it comes down to the media. If you watch ESPN how often do they talk about soccer? It’s one thing televising the game and it’s another thing talking about it. Just talking about soccer before the game or during half time is not enough.

Yes, though the sport does extremely well among the youth, I think the huge amount of fees is a drawback. May be somebody needs to start sponsoring kids who want to play soccer. Give them a dollar each for every training session they attend. They need motivation.

Last but not least, just because soccer is not popular in the U.S. doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a history. USA Soccer team was one of the first to be created, with only two national teams being older, namely the English and Scottish one. They participated in the 1930 World Cup and won a bronze medal.

http://malawi.worldcupblog.org/
The draw is tomorrow.

Ruud has the experience and perspective of comparing soccer in plenty of markets. He is a former Champions League champion (as a player and coach) and member of arguably the best Dutch national team of all time. If anyone is qualified to comment on the status of American soccer, it is definitely Ruud.

That being said, I am not sure if it is a true conspiracy against soccer as much as it is the relative youthfulness of the sport. The sport does extremely well among the youth. The amount of youth soccer players is enormous. Unfortunately, that is where the sport is successful and fails.

The struggle with youth soccer is that Americans struggle with tactics and economics. American soccer has predominantly been a white middle class sport because of the huge amount of fees. The second problem is that Americans struggle with effectively teaching technique and tactics. Americans obsessively struggle with winning at the point of losing the true development of the player. The focus at the youth level is winning instead of development. By the time player development happens, the player is behind the eight-ball.

The economics of the sport I think are slowly picking up. Major sponsors are investing advertising dollars into the sport. Manchester United has business partnerships with the New York Yankees. Finally, Liverpool, one of the most successful teams in world football is owned by Americans, who also own football teams. That being said, Americans are slowly coming around to accept soccer as the great sport it is, the best sport in the world.

Andy
andy@soccerhistorynow.com
http://www.soccerhistorynow.com

In the U.S. the media are very influencial. Most US Sports TV and Radio hosts hate soccer. If you listen to Fox Sports Radio (Jim Rome show) you know what Am talking about. And what about this coming from a host of the ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption: “I’d rather watch golf than soccer”

The main problem is that most US Sports “journalists” don’t know much about soccer so they are afraid that if soccer were to become the # 1 sport in the US, some “journalist” may lose their jobs or may be forced to learn what soccer is about.

Anyway, one can delay change but can’t stop it. With the millions of children who are growing up learning, playing and watching the beautiful game, soccer’s bright future in the US is assured. By playing in the MLS Beckam has helped to increase attendance at games and TV viewership. Some people who went to the Galaxy games only to see David Beckham found they enjoyed what they saw and now they are soccer fans.

PROGRESS REPORT:

There are now seven soccer-specific stadiums in North America — with another handful on the way — when there were none only a dozen years ago.

American television networks begun devoting countless hours of programming to soccer, not just MLS but the European Champions League, the English Premier League, World Cup qualifying and the like.

At least 18 American cities said that they would very much like to stage games if and when the World Cup returns to the U.S.

There are more American players than ever before seeing the opportunity that soccer presents and actively carving out careers in the U.S., Mexico and Europe

A new women’s professional league will be launched next spring.

Ruud Gullit, the former Dutch Star, who spent all of nine months as coach of the Galaxy, on October 13, 2008 suggested that there is a conspiracy among other American sports to keep soccer down, and therefore that no amount of David Beckhams could turn it into a major sport in the U.S.

“I think they are afraid of football because it is so popular everywhere around the world,” Gullit told Reuters. “I think they will just control it so it doesn’t become more popular than their American sports.”

Gullit said that as a result, Beckham is fighting an uphill battle to sell soccer to U.S. fans.

“So it is very hard for him,” Gullit said. “They will never allow that, and in some ways I can understand it as well.

“I have my doubts if they really want to make it popular. Some sports have already had a bit of a dive, so they don’t want American football to become less popular, or basketball or baseball.”

Your thoughts?

And your second reason for Americans not liking baseball is ridiculous. Back when most of the sports were codified (late 19th), most people weren’t even thinking of how they could compete sports-wise with other countries.

Americans have just grown up in a culture tied with certain sports, and that carries A LOT of weight with people. Ok, people grossly underestimate how much football’s popularity has to do with organized sports really coming of age during the time of European colonialism. In the late 19th century and through half of the 20th century, Europe dominated the globe, spreading its culture–and with that, football. That’s why Africa, South America, and the Middle East are now crazy about the game, along with Europe. But people rarely ask: why isn’t India crazy about football, but rather cricket? Why is Japan still predominantly a baseball country (same with the Latin Caribbean)? It’s because Commonwealth countries had more British influence and adopted other sports together with cricket; and Japan/Caribbean countries have had historically had stronger links to the United States, so they now love baseball.

Football is great, but it’s not just some magical force that makes it the most popular in the world. It’s also history, same reason even very poor countries love sports with “expensive” equipment and “complicated” rules. It’s not just an athletic endeavor, it’s a part of our culture.

I hope I made sense :-S

Who is going to play soccer when it’s rarely shown on TV and never glorified? Who is going to play soccer when the “athletes” and the “men” are playing american football? (*Note, american football players ARE extreme athletes, but they aren’t the ONLY athletes). Turning soccer into a mainstream sport is like trying to turn pink into a masculine color. Sure, it’s technically possible….but it will take several generations.

Ten years ago, anybody who played soccer was “gay.” Now, soccer is not preferred, but kids can play the sport without being ridiculed. That is a step forward, and I hope to one day see both American football and Soccer as the most popular sports