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I don’t feel like writing a long treatise on why you are wrong about soccer. Instead, I am going to just make a list of reasons why soccer will succeed.
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- Are there three full-time television channels dedicated to football? No! Are there three full-time television channels dedicated to basketball? No! How about baseball? Nope! Hockey? Yeah, right! But you know what?... There are three full-time channels dedicated to soccer. Think about that; the sport of soccer is popular enough to generate sufficient advertisement revenue to support three full-time soccer channels, whereas the sports of football, basketball, hockey, and baseball can only support two channels combined. Lame.
- If soccer isn’t gaining in popularity, why did ESPN – our nation’s largest sports network – just shell out millions of dollars to secure the rights to a second tier soccer league? I don’t see them pulling out their wallet to get the NBDL or minor league baseball.
- MLS is not the only outlet for Americans to see soccer. Americans have access to the English Premiership, German Bundesliga, Ligue 1 in France, Scottish Premier League, Mexican Football League, the Spanish La Liga, the Dutch Eredevise, the Italian Serie A, English Championship, UEFA Champions League, and the UEFA Cup. What you fail to understand is that most soccer fan’s in the
- Soccer haters are dying off. One of the things that have hurt soccer is that people in positions of power have not been very kind to my sport. Not anymore. These loser executives and sportswriters who have to put down soccer to make themselves feel better are retiring and dying. They are being replaced by smart individuals who can see the potential of the world’s game.
- The
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Alright, I have gone on long enough. If you think that soccer cannot be popular, and that football, basketball, and baseball will always be king, just go ahead, because the world is just going to pass you by. Boxing was once the king of sports in our country. Now it's biggest star hasn't boxed in years and spends most of his time taking medication and threatening to eat people's children. NASCAR was once a backwoods, hillbilly sideshow. Now the spectacle can put 400k in the stands for a single event. Face it, people's preferences change over time.
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For some reason the format of this post looks really funny. I apologize.
~Travis~
1 comment:
Travis, you have weak arguments. You may be right, but you don't support yourself well.
You comment on how American fans watch lots of non-MLS soccer. Exactly...real soccer fans don't particularly care what the MLS does, so the issue is not that soccer is unpopular, but that AMERICAN soccer is unpopular. The fact that there are 3 channels for soccer is not necessarily a testament to it's popularity in America. Those aren't necessarily American-driven channels. They are popularized by the worldwide audience. As you mentioned, there are dozens of different leagues, so there is clearly a large quantity of soccer out there to be consumed. Neither football, basketball, or baseball has this many teams or leagues worldwide.
The reason the Beckham deal makes sense is not because it will get Americans to love American soccer, but rather, for the first time ever, foreigners might actually watch American soccer. I don't think any of them will claim that it's the best league, but I'm sure they'll tune in to see David Beckham, they'll buy his Galaxy jersey, etc. This is more based on the MLS trying to reach the rest of the world. Imagine if Barry Bonds went to Japan to play baseball. I bet they'd show his highlights on SportsCenter here every night. Same for if Lebron James decides to play pro ball in Europe. Most of us probably wouldn't become die hard fans, and the Europeans wouldn't suddenly like basketball more. But they'd have a few more American fans watching their leagues, a few more American fans buying their gear, and a few more curious fans in their own countries.
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