Who thinks that soccer in the U.S will grow?

Question

Do you think that MLS will ever be a big deal in the U.S.A like the NFL,NBA and MLB? And if so, what would it take to bring people into being interested and how long would it take?

Answer 1

I don't think it will grow.
For one thing, the EU now has enough money that a cash cow professional league doesn't have to be in America to survive. The European Leagues bandy about money like they print it.
For another, Soccer would have to find a foothold in one section of the US. (Like UFC did with the West Coat where NFL doesn't do as well) Right now MLS is rather spread out. If they focused on one region, they'd do better. (i.e. North East, Midwest, South like Nascar, Northwest, Southwest) Without a region, it doesn't have an identity in the US.
So, instead of getting the best athletes from any one area (lIke NFL does with Western PA, Ohio, Texas, and MLB does with Florida, and NBA does with Philadelphia, LA, NY) they get the 2nd tier (or 3rd tier) guys from each of those regions of the states.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, I don't see the MLS getting big, it hasn't been much of a success since it was established in the 90s. There needs to be some kind of draw and getting games televised would probably be a start. I don't even know when I could watch them if I wanted to. Beckham coming to the league will be nice, but it won't be the catalyst that makes the game popular. By the time he's here, he'll clearly be on the downside of his career and seeing Beckhman play won't be the Beckham we've seen in his prime. Pele came over here in the 70s and that didn't help. You'd think the 2002 showing in the world cup would've mattered, and it did to a degree, but interest quickly faded after that. I think teams will need to shell out big bucks to compete with European leagues and attract the talent it'll take to raise interest in the game. Could be at least 10 years before this happens (if it even can).

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Answer 3

It already is growing. Thanks to having the world cup tournaments here, hiring of star player in LA, and growth of soccer fans in the US (Immigrants from every corner of the world). Lots of reasons for the growth.

Will it be as big as the other "major" sports. Probably not, but that won't stop it from growing every year.

Biggest reason I see for the growth is the low costs and open to everyone. Don't have to be 7 foot, or weigh 300 pounds, or skate (how many citizens in this country have access to ice skating? 3 or 4 percent maybe. Well the state of Minnesota so 5%), or have lots of money to learn and play baseball (I mean team play not school yard pick up games, ever price a mit or a bat?).


For soccer you need shoes, shin pads and high socks. Play on.

Biggest reason it won't get as popular as the others? Scoring. We Americans like lots of scoring and most won't take the time to learn about the sport. The strategy, the plays, and the talent it takes.

During the world cups here we saw some damn good soccer and some awesome atheletes. It was soccer at it's best and it was exciting.

Answer 4

Football will grow up in US, never reaching the mainstream level of NFL or NBA or MLB, but will be superior than some sports.

The first part of the job is making their school/university teams bigger and better, and there will be a good harvest of future players and maybe those young guys will follow the steps of guys like Claudio Reyna, Tim Howard and DaMarcus Beasley and go to Europe. Taking in fact that U.S. difference with Latin America and Europe is that football is a first priority for young people of those parts of the world, and it was played widely. That's why the best players of football cames principally of these two regions.

The second step: STOP CALLING IT SOCCER. IT'S FOOTBALL, FOR GOD SAKE :)

Answer 5

I don't think the mls will ever be big or famous in the u.s because nobody in the us cares about soccer. but if they did maybe the mls might be good. I also think it will take a couple more years for it t be big. The mls needs to gett more players from other parts of the world. But i still love mls

Answer 6

It will never happen. It is a rather boring sport to watch, i am sure fun to play, but not watch. That is the basic US opinion of the sport. It is similar to hockey and even that game is hanging on by a thread. If it hasn't caught on already, it never will. Numerous attempts have been made to popularize it, they grab a few fans and that's about it. As a child, i liked it. I was into the MISL, went to many Cleveland Force games. Years after, Cleveland brought in the Crunch in a new indoor league. They actually won the championship a couple of years there. Plain Dealer sports section, page nine. Page nine behind the local horse racing posts.

Answer 7

I saw a lot more interest in this years World Cup than ever before. But for most who are used to watching football or basketball or hockey, soccer is just too slow. I think it will share the U.S. market with other U.S. popular sports.

Answer 8

Yes I do. MLS has to bring in some more international talent. Beckham is on his way. Most European fans will tell you that he is over the hill but the Galaxy want the name recognition.
We also need to host another World Cup like in 1994.

Answer 9

It's inevitavable but not for another 20 years, until this generation passes away. Just look at how immensely popular youth soccer is - that's the future.

Answer 10

Might take alittle while....but I think that it will continue to grow in the united states. Many people are involved on soccer teams and the teams are getting larger and more of them