For Years Now Americans have made a decent impact in major european leagues. Here in the US Espn is showing EPL and La Liga games since last year. Often featuring appearences from various USMNT players, Like Howard and donovan, but here in the us the is no promotion push like in commercials or endorsements. Donovan maybe the slight exception that's because he played for galaxy more so often than his stint at everton. You have other players like Dempsey and Gooch, Edu , Beasly, and several more who are playing in europe but still you wouldn't really know here in america because there is little to no marketing of the players abroad. Maybe with some decent effort maybe from I don't know the USMNT maybe nike or some other sports outlet can bridge that gap. I believe that its one of the major reason soccer is not getting mainstream success in the United states.
sorry but none of the Americans are big enough name or have big enough impacts. Edu's in a declining league, Beasley sat on the bench and just got signed or is often hurt. Gooch played poorly, then got hurt and basically hasn't played since. Hell Dempsey probably has the biggest impact recently but the others just aren't that sellable. i'm not saying i wouldn't show fulham games or anything. But most viewers don't want to watch West Ham just cause spector could get in. If you want Nike to really push someone. They need to go to a major european league and become a global star. Like if Donovan went to like Arsenal, became a lock starter, and they had a champions league run with him as a star player then maybe Nike would push him more then they already do. But even then they got Fabregas to push. But the players that get pushed tend to be the most elite players and right now we don't have any. I mean even on Everton as good as Donovan played he wasn't even the top name on everton it was Cahill, and Arteta, Peinar. We mostly have goalies. And i dont' exactly see Casillas in a ton of promotions for anything outside of spain. i just think if they want to get promoted they have to go be talisman.
Ithink USSoccer dropped the ball on this from the world cup andcould have capitalized on this. And if that player isn't getting time on the field I guess maybe they need to comeback to MLS. Makes no sense to sent on the bench for nothing
i guess soccer will never get its share of the american sports pie, cause the top american players are in europe and no coverage of them here in the US, no signifigant marketing the brand in the US. nothing resulted from the world cup, so nothing has really progressed.
Im saying the american players arent really being known here in the US when they play abroad., Mainstream media doesnt have to go clueless every four years. USMNT and to a small extent MLS arent reallly marketing the game of soccer , along with the players who played or playing in the league.
Look at clint Dempsey for example, take away the Uefa Cup highlights you think ESPN would had picked him up for sportscenter highlight?? and Howard Plays at everton (still no excuse) is highly regarded as the best in the world if not the Premier League, but you wouldnt really know that, unless the world Cup is comming.... and Yes Landon donovan, if landon Stayed in Europe maybe that would have been a decent marketing push since he did have a decent showing for his time there, but nothing was banked on it. I blame the Federation because they arent being aggressive, and they are sour when it comes to marketing no only the Game of soccer but its best players.
Most of the audience for the EPL or LaLiga in the US could give sweet fcuk-all about whther there's a Yank playing or not.
One of the problems is the US fan. If there were a greater amount of dedicated fans and if FSC, GolTV, or ESPN2 (MLS and EPL) actually got good ratings then yes you would see more marketing. The other problem is the lack of true American soccer superstar. The best American player that ever lived was maybe the 3rd or 4th best player at Everton. America loves superstars and heroes. They need a Chicharito type player. A young field player that breaks into a ManU level team with tons of charisma and the talent to backup the hype. And then becomes one of the top ten players in the world. Adu could have been that player. The US has goalies but those are not glamorous like the central attacking midfielder or striker positions.