Which US States absolutely don't care about soccer? If I look at www.worldstadiums.com it seems Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Michigan totally don't care about soccer. Are there any decent soccer clubs in those states, and if, do they play at stadiums?
US played in Legion Field and U of Michigan just put in a nice SSS and the Michigan Bucks get a decent crowd. Mississippi and Arkansas are mysteries to me. Try telling that to NJ, IL, MO, and TX. All hotbeds of soccer
Idaho might be a good bet, though (IIRC) George Josten of the Portland Timbers is from Idaho. Basically, look for states that tend to be more backward and provincial.
Areas with people who don't travel, are in love with Palin & enjoy Nascar. Yep, I'm talking about SEC country!
I'd say Georgia and Florida have strong soccer support. Of course Florida is not a "republican stronghold" anymore but even the really conservative areas have good soccer. I'm guessing that pretty much any rural area of the midwest has absolutely no soccer support. The rural areas of the East (even the Southeast) have high school programs all over the place, but I don't think you're going to find anything in the Oklahoma panhandle (to give a random example). Now, if only we could get some D1 coaches to abandon their ODP lovefest and actually recruit rural areas...
Amen to that, especially as areas like Garden City, KS (to give an example) have growing Latino populations.
You really think that stadiums are the metric you should pick? I think you really didn't think this through. Michigan, just for an example, has some really strong youth clubs and leagues, and there is a push for an MLS franchise in Detroit. The lack of a stadium in that website does not really represent the reality on the ground.
I was thinking....if the US Federation broke up into several federations like the United kingdom....Soccer would be BIG for all 50 states. Think of California vs. The CSA or Texas vs. USA.
It kills me that there is no MLS club in Florida. I was in North Miami Beach and I could not even walk on the side walk due to the amount of people watching the Argentinian soccer game. They contracted the fusion when the avg attendance was 11,000 and that was still better than a bunch of clubs.
Youth level - everyone cares but densely populated urban areas tend to have better development, especially those with high latino populations or soccer history. College Level- The South does not care enough to have major programs South of Wake Forest for men. Neither does Texas. They'd rather not have to give up their golf programs. Professional- MLS has presense largely on the east coast from the mid-atlantic to the North East, on the West Coast (you might even say pac-10 territory), in Texas and the industrial Mid-West. I'd also say the minor leagues tend to do better closer to the MLS strong holds than farther (or in MLS dead zones especially after adding the pacific NW), but no real data to back that up. National Team- On the rise everywhere, but Mexico still probably outdraws us outside North Dakota and Alaska if there are enough tickets available
It's different. I lived in Miami for 4 years, and in Tampa for 20. People don't support professional sports in Florida, and they don't support Soccer, Baseball, or Hockey- unless they're going to win, and even then-haha. They will support the NFL and college football teams. The reason being most people in Florida are not from there, and support their teams back home. I supported the Saints, no reason to watch Bucs or Dolphins despite the fact I lived half my life in that area. I live in Miami Beach during the 1994 world cup and after Brazil won, you would have thought we were in Europe with the celebrations. After that? Nothing. Fusion came, and in 2000, went. I was a mutiny fan, so the same thing happened in Tampa. Just not enough support. Times have changed in the US, there is no doubt. But, Florida, regardless of the supposedly soccer mad ethnic groups that end up there, suck for pro sports.
^ I am from MS, and I will back that statement. I knew a guy whose family was from Brazil, and I once asked him about SEC soccer, and he pretty much brushed it off, like it wasn't even worth talking about. Never saw a poster promoting a game. Never heard a word spoken about SEC soccer. I went to Ole Miss for undergrad, and I'm still not even sure there is an SEC soccer program. My guess is No.
There is no "official" SEC soccer, at least as far as the men go. Kentucky and South Carolina both have teams, but they play in Conference USA.
the south is so steeped in the culture of college sports - football and basketball . I think sports that aren't big nationally in college aren't very popular in the south. Maybe baseball is an exception. But i don't see soccer ever being viable in the south
Michigan hates soccer so much we just produced the Gatorade player of the year, were the birthplace of two the best American soccer players ever in Cobi Jones and Alexi Lalas and had a club whose players included George Best and Trevor Francis. Hell we even co-hosted a World Cup because we care so little about the game.
Sorry, I lived in Michigan from junior high through senior high and soccer WAS not only as unpopular as anywhere I've been, but often ridiculed. Only Holland and Detroit's western suburbs seem to have real pockets of fans.