Allen In South Africa: Why Americans Dont Like Soccer
Last Updated on Monday, 25 January 2010 19:36 Written by Allen Linton Monday, 25 January 2010 19:30
Being in the Home of the World Cup, I believe it important to spend time considering why soccer is not very popular in the United States. I cannot say that I will bring a solely objective perspective to the table because enjoying sports extends beyond the realm of pure analytics. Sports must go through the “eye-test,” defined as things that appeal to the eye - in this case my eye. I hope to compare Soccer to the FIVE major sports in America (in order of popularity): Football, NASCAR, Basketball, Baseball, and Hockey. Allow my to justify this ranking because I expect to hear two claims: 1) NASCAR is not really a popular sport and 2) no one really cares about hockey, so keep it to four sports. Let me begin with NASCAR. No sport grew over the last decade like NASCAR, completing the Gordon Revolution and moving into mainstream attention - transforming into the largest growing sport of the 2000s. The Gordon Revolution is termed from the rise of Jeff Gordon, the California born Indiana raised driver who’s success transformed the image of NASCAR as a Southern, “red-neck” sport to a nationwide phenomenon attracting new sponsors (the shift from Winston Cigarettes to Sprint/Nextel), new drivers (most of which now come from the northern United States), and national acclaim among many different demographics (paraphernalia worn extensively by people - exceedingly so by black people; appearances on Saturday Night Live; New York-Chicago-LA media appeal, etc). The sheer numbers of people that flock to events prove NASCAR’s legitimacy going forward; NASCAR holds at least 15 of the top 20 spectator events held per year. Its prevalence back on ESPN/ABC is the final cherry on top for NASCAR’s rise to national fame.
Hockey, though reeling since its last labor stoppage, still produces healthy crowds and remains exceedingly popular in its traditional holdings in the colder parts of the US. The (foolish) need to expand the league to 30 teams came as a response to league popularity in warmer climates like Tampa Bay, San Jose, Dallas, etc. Hockey DOES come the closest in mimicking other international sports by keeping an element of competition with its six Canadian franchises. I can assure you nothing brings out the goose bumps like listening to the national anthems of the home teams in USA vs. Canada games. Passion is high and led to the advent of the Winter Classic, arguably the coolest single sporting event of all sports. Nonetheless, both hockey and NASCAR belong. Lets get to the real issue of soccer.
I love soccer. I love the fans. I love the amazing skill. I love the fact that the games do not take a billion hours. I love the fact that ESPN began showing soccer live (albeit at early times in the states). But here in lies the first (and glaring) problem with the sport: I love the European Premier League. Whether people like to admit it or not, sports fans (and people in general) really like for their activities to be centered at home. We like singing the national anthem, waving our flags, watching really cool military equipment fly over head, and get all American before we compete to the bitter end. Soccer’s major popularity for Americans is not in Major League Soccer, but rather a foreign league all together. Accessibility, for better or worse, is not very high when looking for the quality soccer provided by the States. We do not carry the same enthusiasm about the sport but that stems from recognition that we do not produce a quality source to watch the sport. Soccer, interestingly enough, is the most popular sport among youth up until the age of 13, but suddenly declines into football and basketball (interesting thought - I think hockey is also notoriously popular among the youths. Both soccer and hockey rely on particular facilities that do not necessarily mirror the facilities accessible to many professional athletes in the major sports. I am of course alluding to inner city black youths that populate basketball and football. More on this later) Anytime someone gets limited access to a sport, and the access they do get is at an inconvenient time - he/she will probably not gravitate towards it.
Second, going off the first point, the talented players do not stay in our sport because acclaim is found elsewhere. For the major sports, talented players know that America produces the highest platform for celebrity and success. Hockey is somewhat questionable because hockey is much more recognized in the world but playing the NHL is a dream for American hockey players. Most no American soccer player dream so MLS over EPL. EPL is the world’s sports league. Many people would suggest that NASCAR falls out of this because Formula 1 is the world’s most popular auto sports league. Despite acclaim and excitement, auto racers worldwide believe NASCAR is the toughest sport to conquer because driving a heavier car is much more challenging that driving a lighter car with a computer on board. Certainly in America, drivers always try to move into NASCAR despite their success in other racing leagues. Regardless of perception, NASCAR also keeps the best drivers in America. If you have your top talent fleeing the country, then you will struggle to keep popularity.
Third, the quality of athlete in soccer (particularly in MLS) does not represent “the best.” What I mean here is that most of our physical talent is being pushed towards basketball, football, or baseball. After the athlete, the single most exciting entity of the sport is removed, what is left is essentially second rate talent. To be clear, all I am suggesting is that placing more of the highly regarded talent into soccer (MLS) would make the sport more entertaining. For the most part, I think you can teach the skills of soccer to developing athletes. Imagine if Chad Ochocinco, an avid soccer fan/player, took his skills to soccer rather than football. I am sure it would change the complexion of sports to see Ochocinco matched against Kobe Bryant with Lebron James in net. Soccer suffers from a tremendous lack of American athletic talent - creating a stereotype of the sport being less athletic when in fact it is one of the most athletic sports in the world. Cream rises to the top…so soccer needs more cream.
Fourth, it appears to be down right chaotic for halves and Americans need more structure. Football always sets up from the same position before smacking the mess out of each other: huddle, line up, snap the ball. Basketball always resets before the action begins: score, inbound the ball, play. NASCAR resets the field before restarts and primarily race around ovals. Baseball takes organization to the far extreme as each pitch is itself a resetting of a given scenario. Unsurprisingly, the most unpopular sport of the major sports is hockey which most accurately mimics the presumed chaos of soccer. The eye test comes to play when referring to soccer. The scattered players, the lack of time outs, the always running clock, and the limited scoring opportunities make this sport hard for Americans to grasp. Many American stereotypes of soccer involve players around midfield passing the ball to each other with the occasional slide tackle. Granted the excitement of randomly turning on football or basketball compared to soccer is noticeable, Americans need instant action and resetting for more action. We need formal lines and soccer (in many cases) does not provide that. No fault of its own, but American sports fans know what they like.
Fifth, the intangibles of soccer hinder its ability to rub off on Americans. Intangibles is a term for everything else because I do not want to continue writing all night. This includes the low scores for soccer being a huge detriment. Low scoring is a theme for the decline of baseball (which was fixed during the steroid era which coincided with the resurgence of baseball as homerun hitters made scores much higher) and hockey. The prospect of finishing a game nil-nil is not very appetizing. On an entirely different subject, Americans absolutely hate the notion of flopping as seen with our collective feelings about the European floppers in the NBA. Soccer, like it or not, is the most guilty of Flopapolooza. Everyone reacts like they have been shot with a stun gun upon physical contact. Goal keepers prepare their arguments for referees before they get scored upon. That is a huge problem that players work the officials throughout the entire game; Americans, as a rule, hate officials.
Finally, an interesting perspective I had not heard of but makes some sense. Albert77, a commenter on sports journalists.com, suggested that the lack of hands is unappealing to Americans. All of the popular sports in America involve using one’s hands. Americans love handy work, PULLING yourself up by the bootstraps, a firm HANDshake, and love seeing someone being manHANDLED. Lack of hands, ay? It seems viable though hard to articulate.
Nonetheless, I am going to Cape Town’s new stadium soon and will be looking forward to soccer not because I am a revolutionary, but because I love sports and soccer is amazing.
ALL II
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