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It’s because it doesn’t align with the US advertising-supported professional sports broadcasting model. Before cable, the major networks wouldn’t broadcast soccer because there are no commercial breaks. The NHL had to add them for hockey which used to not have commercial breaks. The NHL has a minimum of three commercial breaks per period where they’ll blow the whistle and stop play. Last I knew, Olympic hockey doesn’t do that and NBC cuts away from live games for commercials. There have been a number of famous incidents where the US team scored goals during commercial breaks. I remember the Lake Placid miracle on ice flipping to the Canadian feed at a commercial break and watching the US score a goal.
Soccer in the US is on pay TV with only a few exceptions. NBC broadcasts a few Premier League games. Fox broadcasts the World Cup. NBC broadcasts Olympic soccer. Pretty much everything else is on premium cable or streaming.
You soccer fans love using that excuse even though baseball and football were wildly popular before TV and radio existed. People were going to college football games like crazy and baseball games had high attendance. So, there was already an entrenched culture and proof those sports resonated with the American public.
If soccer actually appealed to Americans, they would simply pay higher ad rates during the half which would be sufficient. I mean do you really think soccer matches don't make millions and billions of dollars around the world?? You realize they run ads around the perimeter of the entire pitch.
I mean they could do a half screen ads nowadays during lulls in American football and baseball games. They do it also during the Olympics. They could show half screen ads during soccer matches. They don't because most Americans still don't care about soccer.
Also, while TV ads are important for the growth of sports, so is in person attendance. The fact most Americans have no burning desire to watch a game in person is proof most Americans don't care. You can't blame broadcasters as there are professional, college, and high school soccer games all the time for people to go to if the game itself was interesting to Americans.
Also, while TV ads are important for the growth of sports, so is in person attendance. The fact most Americans have no burning desire to watch a game in person is proof most Americans don't care. You can't blame broadcasters as there are professional, college, and high school soccer games all the time for people to go to if the game itself was interesting to Americans.
Attendance at MLS games is actually quite high. Attendance is not the problem at all.
High School soccer is bottom tier. It's a far cry from Club, and not at all like HS basketball or football.
Go to an MLS Next Showcase, and you'll see the stands full of people.
College soccer is just not nearly as competitive as college basketball or college football, due to the fact that a LOT of top talents end up playing in B or C leagues instead of playing college. They get more and better exposure to leagues abroad and local that way.
Again, I say, have you ever driven past an American playground on a sunny weekend day? Nothing but people playing soccer, everywhere.
Maybe there's not a lot of interest in TELEVISED PROFESSIONAL SOCCER in the US, to which I respond "So what? Who even cares?" We already have several televised professional sports for that.
Again, I say, have you ever driven past an American playground on a sunny weekend day? Nothing but people playing soccer, everywhere.
Maybe there's not a lot of interest in TELEVISED PROFESSIONAL SOCCER in the US, to which I respond "So what? Who even cares?" We already have several televised professional sports for that.
It depends where in the US. It’s heavily Portuguese here. Mostly Azores Islands. And some Brazilian. The World Cup 13 years ago, it was like a neutron bomb dropped during Brazil-Portugal in group play. You see the Portuguese League televised in bars. The New England Revolution interest is mostly people who are/were involved in the youth soccer leagues. You hear “my kids played soccer. We started going to Revs games.” Season tickets that include parking are really inexpensive compared to any other sports ticket. Lots of families and youth soccer groups.
football in usa is not taken seriously like in rest of the world.not talked about seriously like rest of the world just watch top 10 espn when threre is football play they almost make a joke of it
football in usa is not taken seriously like in rest of the world.not talked about seriously like rest of the world just watch top 10 espn when threre is football play they almost make a joke of it
It’s a different demographic within the US. I don’t know anyone who actually watches talking heads on sports shows on ESPN. If you look at the ratings, NFL viewership is enormous and the talk shows are tiny.
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