1. Andy on May 3, 2004 11:33 AM writes...

Soccer's popularity has nothing to do with media or provincialism. Soccer is a boring sport to watch, if you aren't a player. Most European and Latin American countries have soccer fields everywhere (we're getting that way here, too, now). Golf is the same way - if you aren't a golfer, watching Tiger Woods beat the crap out of a little white ball is dull, too.

As for baseball (another slow, "dull" sport), practically every American kid grows up playing stickball, whiffle ball, Little League, so they understand what goes into the game.

The other fast moving sports, football, hockey, basketball, etc. are easy for a fan to watch and get into the game with, without getting too bogged down in intricacies. Baseball is all about the minutia.

And one more thing has occurred to me while I type this. Soccer will *NEVER* get popular in the US because there's no place for a commerical break during the game. All of the other major sports have a natural place for commercials to occur. Since there's no place for a commercial, it'll never be on TV in the US, except in limited circumstances, like the World Cup.

2. Colby Cosh on May 4, 2004 12:38 PM writes...

"Soccer is a boring sport to watch if you aren't a player?" Talk about an argument that devours its own tail.

It's equally likely, on empirical grounds, that the spread of high-band communications technologies will intensify (or have intensified) the feelings of tribalism which fuel certain sports. Movable type, the telegraph, and radio all seem to have done so.

3. Seth on May 4, 2004 02:09 PM writes...

As a lifelong sports fan and soccer player, I've given up trying to figure out why soccer has never caught on in the U.S. My overly-simplistic conclusion is that it's simply not "our game".

It's not that we're not the best in the world at it (that seems to be a little chicken/egg thing), and it's not that it's boring (see baseball) or that there's not enough scoring (is there really that much scoring in football? 21-14 is really just 3-2).

It's just that soccer is not part of the American culture. As much as hockey is a "major sport" in the U.S., it has the same problem, which is why it will remain a fringe sport (not to step on Colby's expertise). As Jack Kent Cooke said, there are 20,000 hockey fans in every city - I think that's the same with soccer, and probably will be for a couple of more generations, at least.

4. steve on May 13, 2004 08:19 PM writes...

My pet hypothesis is that Americans like games where merit wins out and soccer just doesn't cut it. Watch the World Cup and see how many times the commentators intimate that the team that played better didn't win. The link between quality of play and final outcome is simply too loose in soccer.

In sports like basketball or football, the better team may lose but that's because they actually played worse in that particular game. Nobody has a problem with that; it's rather exciting actually. But when a team demonstrates better passing, better dribbling, better organization, etc. and loses (or ties) because of a dodgy offside call or takedown in the penalty box or a fluke goal or simply negative tactics by the opponent--that's not satisfying.

5. Dan Hayes on May 15, 2004 06:37 AM writes...

Don't forget competition for our liesure time. Maybe the question should be reworded, "why is Soccer so popular outside of the US" instead of reflexively assuming there is something wrong with americans. I believe it's because of a lack of competition. We have the NFL and college football, baseball, the NBA and college basketball, and hockey (kind of) competing for our eyeballs. There are only so many hours in the day. In alot of the world it's soccer as a major sport with the others (rugby and cricket) filling the niche hockey does here. We appear to dislike soccer because we have more choices to devide our fixed sports viewing time.

6. jbelkin on May 20, 2004 02:32 AM writes...

I don't think there are any simple answes - I think you touched upon some of them. Bowling used to get decent TV ratings - even bowlers will admit there's more action in soccer.

I think for a sport to be successful - you need to build or develop a regular to playoffs to the championship - I think that explains why tennis is in the dumps. We have no idea when it starts or ends. You can avoid the NBA until playoffs or even the league championship - or horse racing where everybody knows there are really only three races that count but normally, most Americans could care less about horse racing.

I think the 'up close' thing is also a factor. People tend to like a sport where they can see the athlete - that soccer field is huge - though the football field is not much smaller but of course, pro football took nearly 20 years of existence before it was "popular" and then another 20 more before it overtook baseball.

Hockey is similiar though obviously with more of a history and fans in the northeast - the outright violence helps - if you look at overall interest and ratings, it's not all that high. TV ratings are always below 1 whic is pretty low - even just counting cable households. I think like soccer, it's the pattern of scoring - it seems pell mell and haphazard and worse, you have to constantly be watching because scoring seems to occur out of the blue. It just requires too much attention ... and frankly, like North American hockey with its tiny rink, there's a lot of tussling and holding - when the EXACT same players are on the larger Olympic ice, it's a thing of beauty with unimpeded skating, precision passing and "real hockey." North American soccer is pretty much played by third or even fourth rate talent (with some exception of course) so there's no beauty that dazzles us.

You don't have to really know the sport but you can spot someone who dazzles you with their physicalness or their grace - NA soccer is minor league ball. You just have to see when the World Cup rolls around, people know it's a elimination tournament and the play is dazzling ... but when that's over, the best players pack up & go home and of course, the World Cup is easy - you root for or aginst countries - especially underdog countries against powerhouses ... but after it's over, American's are not going to get real excited watching Madrid play Manchester no matter how great the play is ...