Soccer anyone?

By: Angie Wiatrowski

When I began writing for sports, I realized how some sports just do not trigger any interest in the majority of the US population. Soccer, for example is the first one that comes to mind. Not too many of my friends pay attention to any sort of sport, and there is only one person I know who knows anything about MLS and the Chicago Fire. The majority of the public is the same way. I ask complete strangers about soccer and I usually get a blank stare or an, ‘I hate soccer, it’s boring.’

I’m surprised at how popular soccer is overseas and how the US nearly ignores it. The irony is that man people have played soccer in their youth, but the majority have pushed soccer aside in their older years and switched gears. I myself have done this. I played soccer for a few years in junior high for my park district, and I simply grew out of it. In high school I chose softball over soccer, and even though I don’t play softball anymore, I have stuck with watching baseball. I’ll admit that I’d rather flip on a baseball game than a soccer game when it comes down to it.

Upon researching this topic, I stumbled on an article from CNN columnist Chris Isidore. Isidore reports that about 7.7 million kids (ages 6 to 17) play soccer, compared to 1.8 million who play tackle football. However, football is the number one spectator sport in the US and soccer trickles a little further down the list behind NASCAR, basketball, baseball, and hockey. It’s kind of funny how NASCAR has the number two spot, considering youth participation is zero.

Clearly, there can’t be much of a connection between wanting to watch the same sports you like to play. I think in my case it just came out as a coincidence that I still love baseball and would love to pick up softball again. If this is the case, how will soccer kick back into the lives of the US?

One of the problems could be that US soccer is more involved with overseas teams. US soccer players prove themselves in international leagues where soccer is more prominent, increasing their popularity overseas which in turn gives them more playing time and money. I guess I don’t blame them. Why play where your audience and your paycheck are significantly smaller?

Soccer is barely even broadcasted nowadays, so it is hard even for the few fans out there to catch a game, unless you have the money to pay for all of those extra cable channels. However, according to Isidore, soccer fans should be happy about this, because the soccer games could turn into a giant advertisement frenzy considering how many commercials are shown during a football game.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it amazes me how I can walk onto the CTA and the train car is full of White Sox posters, yet I rarely see any advertisement for the Chicago Fire or Major League Soccer in general. Things may change, but only time will tell if MLS will increase its fan base and ratings.

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Angie Wiatrowski is a journalism student at Columbia College Chicago and has been an active journalist since freshman year of high school. She attended Minooka Community High school, where she was the Special Features editor for the school newspaper. She was born and raised around baseball and is a diehard Chicago White Sox fan. Also, check out her blog.

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8 Comments

  1. Angie,

    Soccer is like the punk rock of American sports. Asking your friend’s about it may draw blank stares, etc but that does not reflect on its popularity.

    Just as punk was something that existed for years as an underground music, soccer in this country for years existed as an underground sport.

    If you like it, you know where to find it on TV and the truth is on Basic Digital Cable here in I can watch MLS games on ABC/ESPN2, Fox Soccer Channel and the Canadian Broadcast Network (CBC), also in nearly every MLS city games are broadcasts on a local broadcast affiliate and Sunday games on the free-to-air Telefutura network.

    Right there that is 3-5 channels in most places which are just basic cable or broadcast channels which show MLS.

    In addition I can watch Mexican League games on free-to-air, Univision network.
    English Premier League, Argentine League, and Italian Calcio Serie-A on Fox Soccer Channel.

    If you throw in subscriber networks like Gol-TV and Setanta and MLS’s Direct Kick then you now have access to most European and South American leagues as well.

    A friend of mine from England remarked that there were more channels devoted to soccer in this country than in his country, and it is true. I can not think of another sport in this country that has as many channels showing it at any given time.

    Which again brings me to the original point, soccer, is like punk rock. It can be ignored to a point where it can no longer be ignored and it bubbles up into Pop Culture from time to time (Beckham-mania), but it exists almost in a parallel sports world where if you are a soccer fan, you know where to find it, and you can go to stadiums with 15-30,000 people who also know where to find it, and that’s all the sport needs to succeed.

    Punk will never die, neither will soccer in America.

    Comment by Jade on April 22, 2008

  2. That metaphor has unsavory implications. Punks are outcast because they want to be, that’s the definition of the word ‘punk.’ The moment something ‘punk’ becomes acceptable in the mainstream, it loses its whole reason for being and becomes an empty sham.

    Soccer *wants* mainstream acceptance, it’s just had a real hard time finding it.

    –

    I think eventually soccer will become something of a major sport in this country, though probably nothing like the more cherished homegrown sports like the NFL and Major League Baseball.

    Part of that is slowly increasing availability. It wasn’t always the case that all the World Cup games were shown live, but they are now, and they get ratings. This summer, the European Championships will all be televised live as well, and my bet is that will get some decent ratings as well. The Final will be shown on ABC as a doubleheader with an MLS game with David Beckham. Clever marketing there. To back that up, starting in 2010 the European Champions League final, basically soccer’s annual Super Bowl, will be moved to a weekend, a time you can see it without cutting work (it’s been on ESPN all along, you just didn’t notice it because it was on at 2:30 on a Wednesday).

    The other part is the participation nature has changed. Soccer was introduced in this country specifically to be something different from what it is in the rest of the world, and from US sports–kind of a new agey, leftie “post competitive” “post materialist” thing. If you want to read how it USED to be, the last Chapter of Franklin Foer’s “How Soccer Explains the World” is a good start.

    But that era is over, and the whole cuture of participation is changing. The raw number of kids who play has flattened out to maybe even tailed off a bit–but in the last decade or so, the number who play frequently or on competitive (meaning they make cuts) teams has surged, probably at least doubled in the last 15 years.

    Those kids don’t just kick around not knowing what they’re doing like I did in the 80s, they WANT TO BE GOOD. They have particular heroes they pretend to be on the field just like you or I would pretend to be Jordan or Payton Manning. They spend a lot of money to be good. The best among them are going to BE good, and they’re going to make the US team and MLS good.

    When soccer is available, and it’s good, that’s when it has a chance to become a major sport.

    The gap in participation between Boys HS Baseball and Soccer participation was about 300,000 20 years ago. In 2007, it went under 100,000, and gains every year. At the continued rate soccer will pass baseball around 2020. I figure soccer will become a reasonably major sport, maybe more popular than hockey and slightly less than pro basketball, around that time.

    Comment by S.G. on April 22, 2008

  3. I want to say first off, thank you for at least being respectful. You don’t know how many journalists are completely ignorant when they write articles like this.

    No, soccer wasn’t as known before but its starting to get much more exposure now and I hope you are able to catch more of the games. My50Chicago currently has many of the games televised on regular T.V. and that just started this season, so now people are more aware of the presence in Chicago.

    Toyota Park, home of the Fire is starting to average 15,000-17,000 in attendance, almost as much as the United Center Bulls games. We should be passing up hockey soon. As for the advertisements, you don’t see many for the Fire on trains and buses, true. However we are starting to with huge Fire signs on expressways and if I’m not mistaken there is a PACE bus that now goes around with the Fire all over it, similar to the one the Bulls have on the CTA bus.

    Though not many people know much about soccer NOW, this is not just a fad with David Beckham coming then leaving. If people truly believe in this sport and give it a chance, then it will grow. I honestly encourage you to catch a couple games on TV and even attend a game or two. Learn about what being a supporter of the team actually is. Its not just sports team, its a cultural melting pot of dedicated supporters. Participate in Section 8’s chants at the game and you’ll have a blast. Immerse your self in the culture of being a soccer supporter.

    I’ll admit, I was just like you 3 years ago, saying soccer was a horrible stupid sport. However, I have come now to love it and I catch it whenever I can. Not just Fire games, but games all over the world.

    Thank you for your time and I hope you come to support the Chicago Fire.

    P.S.

    Why watch our league if its not even the best and they players don’t get paid as much? Well thats because its OUR league, and the Fire is OUR home team that we should be proud of and support them through every challenge. Winning international cups, league titles, we want all of that for our team. With the growing attendance, advertisement, and the more fans being aware about the team and becoming supporters, I have no doubt that sooner rather then later the money will start to be thrown around. Many of the leagues owners are billionaires, part of a bigger ownership group within that team.

    Thank you again for being respectful to the Fire organization, and overall the game of soccer.

    Comment by Warren on April 22, 2008

  4. “Soccer is barely even broadcasted nowadays…”

    ?? What? Are you for real?

    Wow… that sentence shows just how much research you’ve done.

    FYI, there are more soccer telecasts here in the US than in any other country on the planet.

    Comment by US fan on April 22, 2008

  5. I totally agree with you about soccer. I didn’t even know Chicago had a team. The only thing I’ve ever heard about professional soccer was Mia Hamm a few years ago, and of course Beckham. I’m not sure there’s any way to get soccer back into the mainstream.

    But soccer doesn’t quite relate to punk, because punk has come into the mainstream after years, but soccer has yet to materialize.

    I don’t know. I didn’t know the US had real soccer teams until the Beckhams moved here.

    Comment by Samantha on April 22, 2008

  6. I also agree with not seeing or hearing about soccer as much as other sports. I’m not up with all of the current sports, but I know more about them then soccer because I see more of it; not only on television but in ads in daily magazines and life. When I flip through channels, soccer isn’t something that pops up as much as other sports (which I think is what she is really saying).

    Also– when I read the article I never read anything that said “soccer was a horrible stupid sport” like Warren and US fan seem to think. I didn’t get the impression that she was bashing soccer, she was just simply wondering why it wasn’t broadcasted as much as other sports. If anything she was aiding in the support of advertising and broadcasting soccer more.

    Comment by Chloe on April 22, 2008

  7. Samantha,

    You may want to define mainstream:

    Is this mainstream?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qejg4dcwv3A

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA7ZGW2xgPM

    Comment by Jade on April 22, 2008

  8. I was talking to one of my Irish friends who happens to be a pretty big Liverpool fan. He thinks one of the reasons that American soccer doesn’t have the same appeal as European football is because there is no threat of relegation — which is how the Premier league operates. If you fail to play to a certain level in the standings, then you are demoted to a lower division.

    There are downsides too, in that a team could fold and a city might lose the club. But I think his point is that there isn’t the same intensity of “playing for your life” when you are in last place. In American sports, most teams close up shop if they are in last place. If you knew you were going to lose your job, you might just bring your A game.

    I’ve never been to a European game. But I’d be willing to bet that there is nothing like it. I’m a soccer fan — so perhaps I’m biased.

    I also get why a lot of Americans aren’t attracted to soccer as a spectator sport. There is obviously limited scoring and I think it is not marketed in the same way that some other sports are in the U.S., at the same time, up against other sports with pretty rich tradition. I think that as you see more exhibitions or “friendlies” with teams from other leagues such as the Premier League, soccer will have a different vibe.

    Comment by den cotton on April 23, 2008

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