World Cup: USA Gets a 2nd round birth

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In summary then...

Discounting America, football is the most popular sport in the world.

Including America, football is the most popular sport in the world.

:)

We can all argue about this, but there are two unarguable statements of fact:

1) Football will NEVER EVER be popular in America as it does not fit into the national sporting stereotype.
2) Football is the most widely played and attended and watched sport on the planet earth. Which incidentally comprises of over 200 countries.

If anyone can disprove those theories (note: fishing is not a sport, it is a pastime) then I will give them my whole U2 collection.
 
1) Pray tell, could you please tell us what our national sporting stereotypes are?

2) China could easily become a basketball country in the next 30 years or so, and then basketball would challenge soccer for the title of "most popular sport in the world." Incidentally, I've noticed that not many other countries are attempting to challenge the US's supremacy in basketball.

3) Actually, the most popular sport in the US, in terms of participation, is bowling.
 
I'm eagerly waiting to find out what our national sporting stereotypes are. Perhaps they will turn out to be as diverse as our population. :eek: Imagine that.
 
And for all those who still think the American media doesn't care about World Cup, here are two recent covers of Sports Illustrated, which is by far the biggest sports magazine in the US.


May 27
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June 24
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The big problem here is money, its not about if people practice this sport or not, 20,000,000 young ppl practice soccer in USA, still the profesional league doesn't get attention or is promoted like NFL NBA MLB or NHL, why?
In all this sports USA is the one that controls them, so they can invest and make it the bussines they want.
In soccer FIFA is the one that controls the bussines, thus any investment on it, will be hard to cash for americans, I'm sure that if the president of FIFA would be an american, they will invest in its promotion, in the stadiums and would make it a big bussines they could cash. ( maybe also would split the time of play in 4 quarters, god don't permit).
Speakinf of basketball and China, maybe millions could practice it, I think is the sport that can be close to soccer in term of globality, still basketball is very far away in terms of passion, and the identity it creates with a nation. Basketball is highly practiced in Mexico and Latinamerica, maybe as much as soccer, so is not about how many ppl practice it, is the kind of passions it create.
Is the most important event in the world of sports.
In USA it has grown, and is still growing, I don't think will reach the levels of the big sports leagues, at least not if USA don't control FIFA, and that is not likely to happen. Also the best american athletes practice other sports, who knows? maybe if the best athletes start practicing soccer when kids they can make USA a top country in soccer.
Still I think with the capacity of organization and the steady work of USA they can have a solid team for years to come.
Even if it doesn't interest but a small proportion of the USA population.
 
rafmed said:
The big problem here is money, its not about if people practice this sport or not, 20,000,000 young ppl practice soccer in USA, still the profesional league doesn't get attention or is promoted like NFL NBA MLB or NHL, why?
In all this sports USA is the one that controls them, so they can invest and make it the bussines they want.
In soccer FIFA is the one that controls the bussines, thus any investment on it, will be hard to cash for americans, I'm sure that if the president of FIFA would be an american, they will invest in its promotion, in the stadiums and would make it a big bussines they could cash. ( maybe also would split the time of play in 4 quarters, god don't permit).

Huh?

I always thought that the success of a professional league depended on whether or not consumers liked it, i.e. are they willing to watch it on TV and patronize the league's advertisers, and are they willing to go to games and purchase league merchandise?

Millions of kids do play youth soccer, and in the next couple decades they'll be in the workforce and will be in a position to fund and market the sport if they so desire.
 
I think we may not have to understimate the power of USA media, if a product (league) can be sold by someone , that is the USA media, and I say it as a praise. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think a high percentage of americans between 15 and 30 years old have played soccer, included women, still they don't follow the game. The amount of information in the media in the USA about soccer has grown to levels I think no else had imagined some 10 years ago, still, soccer is a minor sport in terms of attention.
The problem I see for the near future, is that even this attention the USA team have now will be hard to capitalize by MLS, USA team is supperior to the MLS in level of play. So it will be easy that people curious to follow soccer would be dissapointed.
Anyway I think USA population is so big and with so diferent levels of perspectives, that maybe soccer can grow and flourish in certain sectors even if never reaching the levels of the big leagues, even if USA team become a force in a decade or so.
 
Foxxern said:
And for all those who still think the American media doesn't care about World Cup, here are two recent covers of Sports Illustrated, which is by far the biggest sports magazine in the US.

And of course there was an article about the Frankfurt Galaxy, a NFL Europe (American football) team. Hee hee.
 
Sorry everybody. Was earning some money.

And sorry to disappoint you, but your national sporting stereotype isn't anything nasty! It is just the country as a whole prefers high-scoring sporting occasions with short bursts of excitement and a lack of consistent action... which fits in nicely with the armchair supporter and the television broadcasters.

Oh, and preferably without any of those pesky foreigners involved ;)
 
bullet the blue sky said:
Sorry everybody. Was earning some money.

And sorry to disappoint you, but your national sporting stereotype isn't anything nasty! It is just the country as a whole prefers high-scoring sporting occasions with short bursts of excitement and a lack of consistent action... which fits in nicely with the armchair supporter and the television broadcasters.

Oh, and preferably without any of those pesky foreigners involved ;)

American football, baseball and hockey are low-scoring sports. Hockey and basketball feature fairly continuous action--not like soccer, but neither is it play-by-play the way American football is.

Over 60% of the players in the NHL are Canadian, and another 15% or so are European.

A whole bunch of players in Major League Baseball are from Spanish-speaking countries.

This year's NBA MVP was born in the Virgin Islands.
 
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