re: soccer is getting bigger in america...

Soccer is the #2 support among 15-25 year olds. It will continue to grow. Especially as we get better and better on the international stage

Nah. It gains fans every four years. Of course, most people don't keep watching. That's fine. Some people do. Most people on this very board can point to a specific WC where soccer really captured their interest.

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Happens every 4 years.

In 3 months the same people who follow soccer regularly will follow it.

And everyone else will go back to not caring till 2018.

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From my point of view, you have to look a little deeper than that.

It's a cycle. Big events that feature the US like this World Cup inspire kids to play in their local rec leagues. And some of them stick with it (same as with baseball, basketball, etc.) Then if these kids stick with the sport long enough they become the viewers of professional and international games. And their kids in turn get exposed to the game and want to play.

At the young youth levels the game enjoys great popularity. And the number of high schools that offer soccer is growing. (and the growth seems to be among the public high schools). Heck, their are even thriving indoor leagues and some outdoor leagues for after they have finished high school. Kind of the soccer version of men's softball I guess.

The main gaps I see are from the oldest rec ages until high school. I don't think Jr. High Schools have many soccer programs. And of course the lack of either college programs or some sort of affordable club system from high school age on for those who might have the talent to go on.

So I see the sport growing but it's not like flipping a switch and after this world cup the sport will be ultra popular in the country overnight. It's a long process with peaks and dips but I think the trajectory is upwards.

It is getting more popular as we get more immigrant communities.

The problems with American Soccer are two fold to me from an outsiders viewpoint. (played one year)

1) There is no where to go for a 18 year old Soccer player. If you are a great athlete it is better to be a 5 Star anything than a Soccer player. There are no scholarship opportunities here for boys. If you are a girl you are golden. My son is a great Youth goalie in Alabama, that an five dollars gets you a cup of Coffee at Starbucks. Anywhere else in the world and he would be a celebrated player with lots of opportunities. not here.

2) Youth Soccer is an expensive suburban sport in this country. It cost 2k plus per season even here in bama. Youth Coaches get paid, tournaments are expensive and their is a lot of money in Youth soccer in America. Anyone can play Youth baseball and football, it it cost a few hundred bucks and fees are waived every where and coaches rarely get paid, travel is not that bad except for Baseball Allstar teams, etc. What % of our great sports athletes are white kids from the suburbs?

3) To prove my point, on River Monsters last year Jeremy was going on a trip deep into the Amazon hundreds of miles past civilization with no power lights etc guided by local tribes man. These people were living in hunts off the land etc. National geographic shite.

He had to stop one day as the local village that was hosting him had a big soccer match with a neighboring village. They did have shite but they had a soccer field, and a ball and a team. I looked to my son as said "That is why we suck at soccer."

Like our Brit Coach says "Everywhere else in the world the best athletes are Soccer Players. (He Said Football of course) Here they are baseball, American football, and basketball, and everything but Soccer."

We can't even get fields built for the whole freaking city of Mobile, and have almost no poor kids in any league. And yes Title IX is part of it, even the colleges with Soccer teams usually only have a few scollys a year and that almost always goes to foreign strikers.

How many players on the US team are really from here or learned their skills here.

So to me it is really amazing that we are even competitive at the world level at all.

I love international soccer... I have no real dog in the club level fight but I love cheering for the against the world... esp. since it's really 1 of the few major sports we're an underdog in


and since I'm off work tomorrow... I think I'm going to go to Finn McCool's... esp. to watch Les Bleus (since that's my "other" side in this)

The ratings for the Gold Cup last year were pretty good when Fox decided to air games on network tv instead of FSC which was for most people a premium channel.

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Its bigger than it was 4 years ago. viewership average per game is up. Univision already matched its ratings from 2010. ESPN is up 28%

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Being in the same hemisphere as the games helps.

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i will keep saying it until someone actually believes me, but the FIFA video game is the biggest driver in soccer fans in the 16-25 age group.

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Truf!

considering I just called France my "other" team earlier...

let's say USA gets through as the runner-up to Germany in the group (either by draw w/ GER or other tiebreaker)... and get passed the round of 16 (more than likely over Belgium in this scenario)... that sets up a potential USA/France Quarterfinal