re: Is soccer in the US close to surpassing hockey as the 4th sport?

Posted by SprintFun

Columbus, OH

Member since Dec 2007

45794 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 4:53 am to VolsMissthe90s

I think Columbus is the perfect market to analyze soccer vs hockey. Columbus LOVES both sports, but hockey takes the top prize. Soccer had a huge bump from the world cup but this discussion wouldn't even be this close in 3 years. Also consider the audience partaking in the discussion. I bet this thread has a different take if posed on the msb

This post was edited on 7/7/14 at 5:00 am

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Posted by Old Money

Member since Sep 2012

36371 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 5:08 am to cheesesteak501

It will because it's cheaper and easier to play

Posted by TheIrishFro

Member since Aug 2010

4709 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 5:08 am to SprintFun

(no message)

This post was edited on 6/11/23 at 1:48 pm

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Posted by SprintFun

Columbus, OH

Member since Dec 2007

45794 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 5:12 am to TheIrishFro

Until the US can have a domestic world class product, hockey will be #4 . People enjoy the world cup because we finally put our pieces together on the world stage. Americans like to watch our teams. Not other people's teams on the other side of the globe.

Posted by thesoccerfanjax

Member since Nov 2013

6128 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 7:43 am to SprintFun

quote:
Until the US can have a domestic world class product, hockey will be #4

Hockey isn't #4 now, and it has nothing to do with MLS.

You say Columbus is the perfect town to analyze since it has both. What you apparently fail to understand is that most towns don't have both. Most towns only have soccer (at some level).

Posted by reedus23

St. Louis

Member since Sep 2011

25485 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 8:17 am to TheIrishFro

What is your measuring stick then, sport to sport? An event that takes place once every 4 years? Number of kids that play either sport? Which has always been soccer for as long as I've been alive. TV viewership?

Posted by chalmetteowl

Chalmette

Member since Jan 2008

47609 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 11:10 am to Sheep

quote:
MLS Cup *might* be the 25th most important soccer viewing event in a given year.

really?

USA games
Mexico games
big-time nations' games
Gold Cup
World Cup
Women's World Cup
Euros
Copa America
Premier League big games
Championship playoff final
Champions League
FA Cup
Real Madrid Barcelona
Milan derby
Old Firm

Posted by petar

Miami

Member since May 2009

5989 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 11:29 am to chalmetteowl

Soccer as a whole has passed hockey imo.

NHL finals averaged 5 million people a game. I know its different but US Portugal beat the total on its on. and US Belgium nearly beat it.

I would bet that total hours of soccer watched on television in a given year would be similar to total hockey viewership.

Average attendance for MLS trumps NHL.

the NHL trumps the MLS tv package. and NHL tickets are more expensive than MLS tickets. But the EPL package by NBC price was much closer to the NHL tv deal

BUT we are comparing the premier hockey league to a soccer league that is not top 5 and somewhere towards the end of top 10 (nother thread topic)

But champions league semis and finals all drew healthy over a million viewers even though it was mid afternoon games.

I think it will be tough to really ever tell as the time slots for premier games are never going to be primetime

Posted by petar

Miami

Member since May 2009

5989 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 11:40 am to Buckeye Fan 19

quote:
The USA WC games averaged less viewers than Bolt's 100-meter run in track.

This is a common misconception that has been made lately.. NBC actually flubbed it up and didnt even show it live.

LINK

So although 20 mil watched it in england and estimated over 100 world wide. none in the US of A.

quote:
I saw it earlier. Did a VERY quick Google search and didn't see it, but did find this. NBC London coverage averaged more than 31 million viewers each night.

I think that to compare Olympics with World Cup is a little deceiving as there are plenty of more events and the TV spectacle last longer. and it was rebroadcast in primetime. So At night when people got home they put olympics on, whether they watched it for 20 minutes or 1.5 hours at 5 pm or at 10 pm. That couldnt happen with soccer during this world cup as the events weren't in primetime nor did the US game last for hours as the NBC coverage did.

Its tough to compare the US World Cup numbers to imply any soccer fandom. It is interesting to compare the non-US games though. as the average for ESPN alone (and not univision) is around 4 million. and the Brazil Columbia game got around 6 million on espn alone. This is pretty high viewership and is intriguing because it can show the level soccer could get at if there were games for casual fans to watch

This post was edited on 7/7/14 at 11:50 am

Posted by SportsGuyNOLA

New Orleans, LA

Member since May 2014

17027 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 11:50 am to petar

Soccer, in general, has definitely surpassed hockey.

A lot depends on the definition of "surpassed".

Nobody plays hockey in the US, aside from the Northeastern United States. People play soccer everywhere.

There simply arent any ice rinks- I'm not sure there are any in our entire state (definitely none in the New Orleans area).

But as for viewership, I think soccer and hockey are close, but hockey still has the edge.

The MLS will never have the viewership of the NHL, but the addition of US viewers watching the European Leagues, Champions League, and World Cup, soccer in general is very close to surpassing hockey, if it hasnt already.

Posted by petar

Miami

Member since May 2009

5989 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 11:59 am to SportsGuyNOLA

quote:
The MLS will never have the viewership of the NHL, but the addition of US viewers watching the European Leagues, Champions League, and World Cup, soccer in general is very close to surpassing hockey, if it hasnt already.

Yea i wish somehow we could get the total numbers of games watched or hours watched of soccer vs. hockey. I think these numbers would be interesting to compare. it will be hard to tell otherwise as there is no good direct comparison.

quote:
A lot depends on the definition of "surpassed".

i think this is where much of the argument is stemming from.
From a bigger includes everything soccer (playing it, video games, watching on tv, etc.) i think hours of total soccer > hours of total hockey.

I would say total money spent on soccer by fans, players, organizations etc. < hockey though (including tickets, merchandise, gear to play, places to play, etc.)

Posted by ohiovol

Member since Jan 2010

20828 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 6:00 pm to SprintFun

quote:
I think Columbus is the perfect market to analyze soccer vs hockey. Columbus LOVES both sports, but hockey takes the top prize. Soccer had a huge bump from the world cup but this discussion wouldn't even be this close in 3 years. Also consider the audience partaking in the discussion. I bet this thread has a different take if posed on the msb

Don't get me wrong, both teams have some passionate fans, but this is a huge exaggeration.

This post was edited on 7/7/14 at 6:06 pm

Posted by SM6

Georgia

Member since Jul 2008

8799 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 6:58 pm to ohiovol

As an innocent bystander, I am waiting with baited breath for Dandy Lion to drop some stats backing up his assertions. Aside from the MLS-NHL debate, when it comes to non World Cup soccer, there isn't a ton on of interest on national sports media sights for soccer. Sure the ESPN scroll will give you a score from the EPL, La Liga or Sirie A...

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Posted by ohiovol

Member since Jan 2010

20828 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 7:07 pm to SM6

quote:
As an innocent bystander, I am waiting with baited breath for Dandy Lion to drop some stats backing up his assertions. Aside from the MLS-NHL debate, when it comes to non World Cup soccer, there isn't a ton on of interest on national sports media sights for soccer. Sure the ESPN scroll will give you a score from the EPL, La Liga or Sirie A...

Because ESPN covers so much hockey...

Posted by WarSlamEagle

Manchester United Fan

Member since Sep 2011

24611 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 7:33 pm to SM6

quote:
sights

And compared to hockey, soccer (not just MLS) is close in terms of coverage in the U.S.

Posted by thesoccerfanjax

Member since Nov 2013

6128 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 7:39 pm to ohiovol

quote:
national sports media sights for soccer

Yea there is. So much so that they usually give soccer it's own site. ESPNFC.com, Prosoccertalk (NBC).

Posted by sumtimeitbeslikedat

Vidalia, La

Member since Nov 2013

4424 posts

Posted on 7/8/14 at 12:12 pm to cheesesteak501

I personally think even cricket would surpass hockey viewership here in the states if it got the same amount of mainstream tv coverage and people understood the rules and gameplay. And soccer is waaaay more interesting to me than cricket, so I guess my answer is yes. Soccer is close to or past hockey in U.S. interest as the 4th sport. I think in a decade or so (especially if more D1 colleges start teams, smaller local communities & high schools continue to incorporate it, and we can keep our talent in the states) soccer will be even more popular than baseball.