Growing up I believed there was a large segment of the population that was lost for soccer. These folks just weren't uninterested, but downright hateful and antagonist to the sport. Heard challenges to masculinity and patriotism many times so I wrote them off as lost cause and thought focus on the young and grow over time. Yet, in the past two years in the Cincinnati area I am seeing a transformation I never thought possible among this corner of sports fans. No where was this more apparent than local sports talk radio. During the World Cup when they were forced to discuss soccer it was always in negative terms, and they never mentioned domestic leagues, even USL Cincinnati ones. When FC Cincinnati was announced, they were ignored, then mocked, then begrudgingly accepted, and now seemingly beloved. Below is an example of local sports personality and his conversion, I'll bold the beginning and end as that is important parts to me. ----------------------------------- If ten years ago, you would've told me that one day I'd be emotionally invested in a soccer game, so much so that I'd be unleashing college basketball level-howls of indignation at missed calls , I would have laughed at you. Then mocked you. And depending on my mood, I might have tried to fight you. If five years ago, you would've told me that I'd be so wrapped up in a soccer game that I'd spend two and a half anxiety-filled hours going through the kind of emotional ups and downs normally reserved for postseason baseball or overtime football, I simply would have shaken my head. If two years ago, you would've told me that while watching a soccer game, I'd be spewing the kind vitriol typically reserved for Pittsburgh Steelers players, I would have given you a tilted look of skepticism Yet there I was last night, all in. Completely invested and immersed. A couple of obligations prevented me from being at Nippert Stadium last night, and if a few years ago you would've told me that I'd watch a soccer game on TV longing to be in attendance, I would've openly mocked you. Fortunately, I had the excellent FC Cincinnati broadcasting trio of Tom Gelehrter, Kevin McCloskey, and Lindsay Patterson to guide me through a tension-filled evening as FC Cincinnati played the New York Red Bulls in the US Open Cup Semifinal. I'm like many who've bought into to FC Cincinnati. I didn't grow up playing soccer. Didn't care about it enough to watch. Never considered it worth learning much about. Understood its popularity, appreciated its reach, but never found many reasons to care. FC Cincinnati has changed that. And some. I am not a very pleasant person to watch sports with, at least when my teams are involved in big games. People who know me well will confirm. I'll go on the radio and talk a big game about sports being a diversion and not allowing games to have that much control over you, and then I'll go home, curse at the TV for a few hours, throw remotes, and be generally unpleasant to be around as the game is taking place. There are good friends of mine who openly admit that they don't like watching sports with me. My fiancee has gotten really good at knowing when to head to another room. Exes of mine would probably tell you that on the list of the many, many thing they don't miss about me, being by my side when a big game is happening is near the top. Last night, I was at my worst. Pacing in front of the TV. Gesticulating on the near-misses by both teams. Doing the whole spread-your-arms in outrage when a call wasn't made. Cursing New York players that taunted our guys. Yes, our guys. Calming my nerves with liquid remedies. Sensing with fear that the first Red Bulls goal was about the change the game. Urging a game-tying goal at the end. Feeling emotionally drained afterward. And yes, at one point, when New York tied the game, a remote got thrown. Are some of these things signs of immaturity? Yes. As I stare at turning 40 in less than two months, I'm way too old to be behaving like a nine year-old when sports are on. Is my level of interest and investment in FC Cincinnati a sign that I've evolved as a sports fan? Sure. I don't have many redeeming qualities, but I have become more open-minded as I've gotten older. I'm more open to trying new things than I was a decade ago. But how I consumed the game last night, and reacted with every turn of an immensely compelling, thoroughly entertaining game, is more a reflection of a soccer team that's made me buy in, a club that's made us feel good, and a franchise that's done nearly everything right. In two short years, FC Cincinnati has not only established itself as a significant part of the local sports landscape, but they've made fans out of people who not long ago, would never even conceive of watching a soccer game, much less getting wrapped up in one, and they've turned me into someone who not only enjoys watching them, but badly wants them to win. Last night, as I reacted to every play, contorted my body on every scoring opportunity, and gasped for air in the game's most agonizing moments, my fiancee looked at me and asked "who are you?" I'm an FC Cincinnati fan. I'm a soccer fan. Wonder what that guy from ten years ago would think. Read more: http://espn1530.iheart.com/featured/mo-egger/content/2017-08-16-who-am-i/#ixzz4q1ofeVUU ---------------------- This sort of story has happened to many locals. I was curious if other cities and fans have witnessed this trend?
If you are generalize this experience (converting ppl to soccer fans) to the rest of your country it won't take long until you are a contender.
Thanks for posting this. It's amazing isn't it? I pretty much fall into the same camp. I actually played some soccer in a rec league in high school and then intramural soccer in college. But I didn't take to it until 2006 World Cup. It grew on me slowly but will now say it's my favorite sport. I still like baseball, bball, and football--- I grew up on those three. but I'd say soccer has passed all of them now.
I watched the US-Ghana game in 2014 at a bar next to a guy from Pensacola who had never seen a soccer game before. He seemed to be won over.
Spectacle and the feeling of wanting to be "in on" something counts for a lot. Soccer may be approaching "critical mass" in terms of being something that run-of-the-mill sports fans feel drawn to because lots of other people are watching.
Nice. Thanks for sharing. Not only have we achieved a good length time allowing casual fans to grow familiar with/embrace the league and teams, we're arguably witnessing the first period of sustained gameday experiences like we've always imagined, which gives fringe fans a wholly different perspective of the game. The 3 casual fans I know who've evolved into Atlanta United fans this spring have done so in response to seeing the supporters' clubs and all the energy and passion we're able to create from the fans perspective (as opposed to simply looking to the product to provide stimulus). Plus we've seen great strides in the TV production of soccer, both local and international, which makes the game much more relatable to casual fans. The ability to track stats, to discern and talk strategy, and the ability to identify subplots to the stories means more fans can buy in to a particular match, player or team. These would be for me two of the biggest things that have moved the US fan toward more passion for soccer the past 20 or so years.
I saw some of that happen in Sacramento in 2014 after the first two sellouts at Hughes Stadium. A whole lot of people have gone from knowing nothing about soccer, to going to a game to see what the buzz was about, to following the team religiously. I've even seen some people converted by watching games on TV, and a lot of credit for that goes to a production team that, while it isn't always the best when it comes to camera angles, has been great about making sure viewers can hear the crowd.
I saw recently that a suburban Baltimore high school, Centennial is cancelling varsity football because they couldn't get enough players to field a team. One of the contributing factors listed was dropping fan interest and attendance and rising interest in basketball and soccer.
This is a thing of upper-middle class heavily immigrant communities. The Washington Post today has an article about NJ high schools shutting down football. Don't think that it is a national trend though. While some state have had a reduction of the number of high school football teams, some states have had an increase. https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...20da1aeb507_story.html?utm_term=.406281c20d30
Related story without a paywall http://www.bendbulletin.com/sports/...utting-down-varsity-football-as-financial-and
Lance, I had lunch with two business associates Wednesday afternoon. During our lunch conversation, one associate offered me four tickets to FC Cincinnati and the other offered four tickets to Reds. I have two kids, boys ages 8 and 10. One plays soccer, one plays baseball. We had been to a Reds game earlier this month. We've been to 6-7 Reds games this year, each based around a giveaway or fireworks. So I opted for the FC Cincinnati tickets so my family checked out a match for the first time. Wow. What an experience. The Nippert crowd was electric. Over 20,000 fans were loud and supportive from the start. My kids had a blast. The action was non-stop and kept their attention. As a parent, you know how key that is. I also appreciated the fact we were out by 9:30 and on our way home on a school night. I was struck by the fact FCC out drew Reds-Cubs by nearly 5,000 fans last night (20,056 to 15,335). I often hear discussion about how Reds attendance drops off when the school year starts. My wife and I noted the number of kids at FCC Wednesday. I've heard you talk often about the "movement" and "connection" FC Cincinnati has made with the city. I've rolled my eyes at times over that. But I my wife and kids and I saw it and felt it last night. When my kids got up this morning one of them asked, 'when does FCC play again?" When I replied 'next Saturday', my other son asked, 'can we go back?" Lance, I sat in my office this morning and purchased four tickets on-line for next Saturday's match vs Pittsburgh. I am taking customers to GABP tonight. I will always be a Reds fan. I'm a lifer. But I've heard you talk about teams needing to grab and grow young fans. FCC grabbed an 8 and 10 year old last night...along with two 30-something parents. The 1990's are viewed as a lost decade for the Bengals and their fans. I have a friends that moved on from the Bengals during that time. I worry about the longterm damage that losing is doing to the Reds fan base. The on field results and even the pace of the game have to be testing the patience and faith of Reds fans. Sincerely, Doug L. Read more: http://espn1530.iheart.com/featured...s-and-fc-cincinnati-last-night/#ixzz4qguznoag -------------------------------------- From my experience a single live soccer match is the biggest marketing tool we have as see stories like this all the time.
To me it absolutely is a no brainer-- I would prefer that (my) the kids play less contact sports like soccer or basketball over the brutal game of football. But when I drive through neighborhood I'm astonished at how many kids I see throwing a football around--- even in the dead of summer (June, July). I do live in the Deep South (outskirts of metro ATL) and I know that football is the way of life here but it does leave me scratching my head about what we hear about the health conditions of former players and what that could mean to current players...
The big problem with football isn't that it's a contact sport, it's that it's a "collision" sport. Growing up in rural Nebraska, backyard football is what we did. Even those of us who weren't really into sports, or who would never made the HS team even in our small-ish town. I'm sure it's still that way, even though my hometown actually added soccer as a HS sport just last school year.
Now we have to fire everyone who runs the USSF, because it's clear it has crooked and incompetent leadership.
I know a good way to win the doubters over: Qualifying for the World Cup! It's a novel concept! Too bad the USSF didn't figure it out!
One thing I'll say, people care. I think if we'd failed all the way up to 2006 it wouldn't get a big reaction outside of US Soccer fandom. People at work were angry and sad to see us fail and media coverage has been harsh (justifiably so) on the federation.
I'd wager that in many places they still do. I'm sure they do back in my hometown. They have rec-league soccer and HS soccer but I very much doubt those kids touch a ball outside of practice & games. I could be wrong.