Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We've covered this ground before but soccer is quite ill-suited for the US pro sports television model with frequent television breaks for advertising. Hockey used to be 20 minute periods with no commercial breaks. I remember watching the Lake Placid Olympics US vs USSR game where the US feed did a commercial break right in the middle of play. We flipped to the Canadian feed and watched the USA score a goal. I guess MLS could adopt television timeouts but that would ensure I never watch it. It's really wonderful to watch Premier League, Championship League, Champions League, and World Cup with 45 minutes of continuous play. I've totally abandoned US pro sports because I can't stand the commercial breaks.
We've covered this ground before but soccer is quite ill-suited for the US pro sports television model with frequent television breaks for advertising. Hockey used to be 20 minute periods with no commercial breaks. I remember watching the Lake Placid Olympics US vs USSR game where the US feed did a commercial break right in the middle of play. We flipped to the Canadian feed and watched the USA score a goal. I guess MLS could adopt television timeouts but that would ensure I never watch it. It's really wonderful to watch Premier League, Championship League, Champions League, and World Cup with 45 minutes of continuous play. I've totally abandoned US pro sports because I can't stand the commercial breaks.
I’m also not watching MLS despite having an Apple subscription. I’m generally doing other things on Saturday evenings at 7:30. It’s summer. I want to be at the beach or on the boat. If tomorrow afternoon is a washout, I might flip on NYCFC-REVS but I’m more likely to watch the FA Cup final in the morning.
I’m also not watching MLS despite having an Apple subscription. I’m generally doing other things on Saturday evenings at 7:30. It’s summer. I want to be at the beach or on the boat. If tomorrow afternoon is a washout, I might flip on NYCFC-REVS but I’m more likely to watch the FA Cup final in the morning.
I watch a lot of WNBA and NWSL with my family, so MLS is not a priority for me right now. But I will go to a couple of NYCFC games this season. Its a fun time. The play level to me is below Championship, but I know others think otherwise.
I watch a lot of WNBA and NWSL with my family, so MLS is not a priority for me right now. But I will go to a couple of NYCFC games this season. Its a fun time. The play level to me is below Championship, but I know others think otherwise.
The last time my OLED panel was powered up was Liverpool and then Everton last Sunday. It’s summer. We’re outside.
the halcyon days for soccer in the US were approximately 2005 to 2018 IMO.
it was still new, there were many broadcasters who wanted the rights, they treated it more equitable (like NBC's early PL coverage) and there weren't so many streaming services that broke up all the leagues and competitions.
I can't watch the FA Cup because it's behind a paywall. I don't pay attention to the PL anymore because half the games are behind paywall, (used to watch almost evey single game) if it's a big game, you most likely won't be able to watch it. When NBC took the North London Derby off the air for about 2 full seasons I said good bye.
could you imagine not being able to watch , without a subscription, Packers v. Bears or Cowboys v. Giants/eagles or Steelers v. Browns/Ravens or Yankees/Red Sox or Giants/Dodgers or cubs v. Cardinals for 2 years straight without extra money?
Maybe a lot of people would just pay, but it just angered me. I learned I have better things to do.
And on another note, if you're a USMNT fan, the program is in shambles and corrupt, never had more players playing overseas and still nothing to speak of, and MLS , fake , FC? what's that? we don't call it football, and it's not a club, it's a business. No promotion/relegation unlike every other league in the world.
I think soccer's actually taken a step back. At least from my perspective.
It's already a popular youth sport and has been for decades. We even have a stereotype here called the "soccer mom," an upper-middle-class, typically white lady who drives a minivan (more likely a CUV these days) to shuttle her brood to all their various after-school activities -- soccer being a common one.
The problem with translating that youth popularity into a viable professional league has been the number of other already established sports it has to compete with: American football (hereinafter referred to simply as "football), basketball, baseball, and to an extent, ice hockey (though most of our pro hockey players are Canadian and Baltic imports). Football, basketball, and baseball development enjoy near-ubiquitous taxpayer support via organized leagues in public school systems. Soccer is well-supported in certain areas, but not as ubiquitously as the other three.
In particular, soccer has historically been relegated to a "suburban" sport whereas the other three sports are near-universal in urban, suburban, and rural school districts. That means organized soccer has to rely more on private support and development. This is often the case even where soccer is popular in the public schools; for instance most school districts around here offer junior-high-level organized football and basketball, but not soccer. Kids have to wait until high school to play soccer in organized school leagues.
The issue then is athletes who would make great soccer players often excel in other sports too, so that's where they end up going as they progress from youth sports to college sports. College football and basketball scholarships in particular are far more likely to lead to lucrative professional contracts upon graduation. Baseball less so, but still far more likely than a soccer scholarship, which to this day is still mostly viewed as a way to get college paid for as part of your actual career path in engineering/architecture/marketing/whatever.
The other historical impediment to establishing a viable pro league here is the cost of building one from the ground up compared to the revenue available in already-developed foreign leagues. I don't know what the salary situation is like in the MLS league these days, but in the early days the salary maximum was so low that a decent player could make twice or three times as much just earning the league minimum overseas. So overseas leagues kept poaching all our most promising prospects and leaving us with the scraps.
That said the MLS looks to have finally gained a "critical mass" foothold after a couple decades and his here to stay. But I still doubt pro soccer will grow past the same "semi-niche" status ice hockey enjoys here.
We've covered this ground before but soccer is quite ill-suited for the US pro sports television model with frequent television breaks for advertising. Hockey used to be 20 minute periods with no commercial breaks. I remember watching the Lake Placid Olympics US vs USSR game where the US feed did a commercial break right in the middle of play. We flipped to the Canadian feed and watched the USA score a goal. I guess MLS could adopt television timeouts but that would ensure I never watch it. It's really wonderful to watch Premier League, Championship League, Champions League, and World Cup with 45 minutes of continuous play. I've totally abandoned US pro sports because I can't stand the commercial breaks.
When I watch EPL on TV, it seems that the entire game is a commercial break what with the rolling ads on the stand walls and the players being walking billboards for their title sponsors.
American culture draws such an emphasis on the “masculinity” and one being “macho” (“You da man!”) which reflects in sports such as NFL and NBA which to me are so much more volent and physically demanding than European soccer. Especially NFL, so “barbarian” and “caveman-like”. (Sorry!)
I also notice American men IN GENERAL, are built differently from the typical soccer players from Europe and Latin America, who tend to be more on the lean side and smaller-framed. (The same thing for Polo players.) American baseball players and NFL players are built like a reverse triangle. (Sorry!)
Please don’t attack me, I’m just offering my observations.
How can NBA be considered macho? It is a non contact game. Soccer actually does have contact.
Every culture has its "macho" sport, and also a normal sport that most people can realistically play because they can afford to get hurt. America has Gridiron Football, Canada with Ice hockey, Southeast Asia has various kickboxing forms, Western Europe has Rugby. Many other countries have wrestling.
Soccer is insanely popular among suburban children (where do you think the label "soccer mom" came from?), but it seems to fade away when they grow up. Why that is, I honestly don't know. I would think that its popularity would continue as the players age out of children's leagues. Maybe that's why we're seeing an uptick, because many of today's young adults grew up immersed in the sport.
Personally, I think that "football" is a much more appropriate name for this sport (which is, after all, mainly played using one's feet), and that what we call "football" should be called something else, maybe "tackle ball." Don't know if it'll ever happen, but I think it would make a lot more sense. It also might help integrate American fans into the greater worldwide community of football fandom, which in turn might help grow the sport's popularity in this country.
Lack of a future is why. But now you have MLS. MLS is getting big and that means more and more kids will see it as a viable future since most will not be 6'6" or taller, nor will most want to be in order to make NBA.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
