Worldwide, yet not American?

 Ah, the FIFA World Cup 2014, the time where the public interest in soccer is at its highest. The sport of soccer doesn’t get followed a whole lot in the US when the World Cup isn’t on and if US is not in it. Most people would rather watch NBA, NFL or the MLB. If soccer is the most popular sport in the world, why isn’t it popular in USA?

It is clear that other professional sports are far more popular for Americans to watch as opposed to soccer. Just to put soccer’s popularity in perspective, let’s look at the facts. 111.5 million Americans tuned in to watch the 2014 Super Bowl between the Seahawks and Broncos while only 24.3 million Americans tuned in to watch the 2010 World Cup final. Another stat that is worth mentioning is that despite the NBA Finals happening once a year and the World Cup Final happening once every four years, the NBA Finals still had MORE viewers as was evident in the 2013 NBA Finals Game 7 between the Spurs and the Heat that drew 26.3 million viewers. The Celtics-Lakers Game 7 in 2010 drew 28.2 million viewers. It is hard to tell with certainty as to why soccer does not capture the interest of the average American sports lover but here are a few that come to my mind.

 

Let’s start with attentiveness. Soccer is just one of those sports where it’s a thrill to play, but for many, perhaps a pain to watch without interruption. When you are watching a soccer match, just for each half alone, imagine having to keep your eyes glued to your TV screen for 45 minutes straight with no commercial breaks. For the common viewer, commercials serve as a good diversion to either get up to go to the bathroom or grab a quick snack. For baseball, there is a commercial break every half inning or during a pitching change. For football, there is a requirement of 20 commercial breaks per game. For basketball, there is a commercial break for every voluntary time out and for a “mandatory timeout” and for every dead ball after 6:00 and 3:00 in each quarter. The whole idea of having to watch for 45 uninterrupted minutes without any commercial breaks can be tedious at times, especially in a sport where it’s so tough to even score. That brings me to my second reason. Scoring is something that Americans want to see. In the big picture, the USA was able to thrive as a nation due to the ability to constantly grow, progress, become stronger, bigger and more powerful. Scoring is an accomplishment that can be identified, compared, and most importantly, increased. That is the American way. Having a game in which it is hard to score is something Americans would feel is a stalemate.

 

As with all living things, there is a capacity to absorb, and that applies to the American passion for sport. America has had basketball, baseball, football and ice hockey long before soccer was introduced in the country. As a result, soccer remains an outlier on the American consciousness. The Boston Globe’s Andre Markovits writes that America was too developed to embrace the sport of soccer. Writers Ivan Waddington and Martin Roderick has said, in each society, there is a limited amount of “space” for sports, and once that space is filled, there is no room for other sports. So after embracing other sports for so long, it will take time for Americans to embrace soccer.

 

Results of US soccer aside, there are some rules of the game that may just see un-American, such as not using the hands. There are so many things in sports being done with hands, swinging a baseball bat and hitting a home run, scoring a touchdown or shooting a three pointer. The concept of using hands to be accomplished in sports has been embraced by Americans for generations so having a sport in which hands are only used by two players (goalkeepers) on the field may seem hard to grasp.

 

Out of the popular “Big Four” sports such as hockey, football, baseball, and basketball, none of them  involve games which end in a tie. Soccer is the only one that does. One quote which always resonates with young American athletes would be “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” The American sports culture is based on the premium of winning, so having a tie certainly does not make Americans too eager. In the sport of soccer, if a team needs a draw (one point) to win the league, they can just expend no energy offensively, defend all game, end the game 0-0 and win the league. In American sports, a team has to go for the win all the time, no ties, just wins and losses. What makes it even more aggravating for Americans is that when a tie happens in Soccer, it is settled with a penalty shootout. Most Americans would view that as absurd as settling a Super Bowl through a field goal contest or settling Game 7 of the NBA Finals through a free throw shootout.

 

One point we must not forget, as cruel as this sounds, the USA just isn’t good at soccer, at least compared to a pack of countries in Europe. Team USA has never won a World Cup unfortunately. In fact, since 1930, team USA hasn’t ever gone further than the quarterfinals. From 1950 to 1990, team USA never even qualified for the World Cup. Thus, it is clear why Americans may not take keen interest in soccer because they aren’t seen as ‘Winners’ in this sport yet. Yet, it’s not a knock against American soccer but an indication of current American standards in sports. Even for the American teams that do win, there is still discontent. If we take a look at the 2012 USA Olympic Basketball team as an example, they would have been hammered to bits if they didn’t win the gold medal. Even when they did win, they were still criticized because they weren’t as good as the Dream Team of 1992. Another example would be tennis player Andy Roddick. Even though Andy Roddick has won a grand slam title (2003 US Open), won a Davis Cup, and has been a World #1, people have criticized him for not being as good as Agassi or Sampras. Americans want winners at the highest level setting the best international standards, plain and simple.

 

 

The face of every American after each World Cup……..

 

There is also the concept of American pride. Writer Dave Eggers articulates, “As a nation of loony, but determined inventors, we prefer things we thought of ourselves.” I would agree because the most popular sports in America are those that are unique to America only. Even though Baseball was based on British Cricket and Football was based on Rugby, one can argue that they were altered so that Americans can take pride in being unique in the sports they play. Perhaps, because soccer could never be altered to give it a unique US flavor, it could be one more reason for its lack popularity in the US.

 

We are all human. We all want to be loved and recognized for talent and ability. Soccer doesn’t quite provide that opportunity as much as other sports do. Basketball, Baseball, and Football players provide the chance to sign multi-million dollar contracts and land high paying endorsements. Soccer players in the US on the other hand, make an average of around $80,000-$90,000 per year, which is still OK but does not make players feel rich and famous. By the way, international soccer stars make millions like the NBA and MLB professionals.

 

My bottom line is; soccer isn’t as popular in the USA as it is around the world because of Team USA’s performances in World Cups, the format of the game involving ties, the pace of the game involving low scoring, the amount of money made in US soccer and the American pride of not willing to take in a foreign sport.