Soccer Popularity In The United States
In the United States, soccer has never been extremely popular. Everywhere else, it is by far the #1 most popular sport in the entire world. The culture here puts the biggest emphasis (and pays players the most money), on the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and the National Basketball Association (NBA). This is not even factoring in the wildly popular boxing/MMA, ice hockey, golf, and tennis.
We have an extremely dominant and powerful women’s team, who is actually the most successful in international soccer after winning four Women's World Cup titles, four Olympic gold medals, and nine CONCACAF Gold Cups. But our men’s team has always fallen short. Here are some of the reasons people believe that soccer is not as popular here in the United States as it is in the rest of the world.
The number one barrier seems to be culture. We are not born into a culture that lives for soccer like others are.
The Men’s National Team is not #1. Until they become successful, fans do not see a reason to root for them.
Americans struggle with the concept of a game ending in a tie.
The low-scoring nature. Americans love games where there can be high scores and lots of points. Look at basketball for example. Games can easily go over a hundred points.
Lack of opportunity for young players to be successful. When young athletes are looking to play a sport they can play professionally, let’s break down the average salary of each route they can go down.
Professional baseball - 4.41 million U.S. dollars
Professional basketball - 8 million U.S. dollars
Professional football - 2.7 million U.S. dollars
Professional soccer - 300 thousand
Now, after a good run in this last world cup, the needle does seem to be changing. Soccer is now considered the #1 growing sport in the entire country. It is now considered the fourth most popular to both watch and play. The US co-hosting the next World Cup is a big deal for American fans, and it will help provide a catalyst for new fans. Also, the success of the women’s team has helped turn fans into believers, because Americans love to support dominant teams.
Watch the video below to see Armando and Joey’s take on US Soccer growth.
