News: Recent polls and stats on soccer popularity in the USA

Discussion in 'Soccer in the USA' started by Brasitusa, Jun 9, 2014.

  1. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It's really the cart before the horse isn't it? NHL gets huge local media coverage. I'm sure a lot of Daily News, New York Post and New York Times readers don't know what NYCFC is.
     
  2. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Interesting point here:

    1494401131845324821 is not a valid tweet id
     
  3. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I misread that first time.

    I think British fans are intrigued by the MLS format. Plus it's shown late at night when there's no domestic sport.
     
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  4. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    MLS does have some timing advantages by being on later in Europe and during the months when there isn't club play going on.
     
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  5. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
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  6. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Next Tuesday we have Weah vs. Pulisic competing directly with McKennie vs. Villareal.
     
  7. soccermilitant

    soccermilitant Member+

    Jan 14, 2009
    St.paul
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The nhl is simply horrible at marketing there sport
     
  8. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    But they have other people to market the game for them. Local media plus NBC's Winter Classic. MLS gets the odd mention on Sports Center and ESPN FC.
     
  9. Brasitusa

    Brasitusa Member+

    AC Milan
    Italy
    May 14, 2014
    Club:
    New York City FC
    The problem with soccer popularity in the United States is that as a sport, it shines nowadays, but as a league (MLS), not so much (although a lot of progress has been made). The other major sports are very focused on one national league: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL. Sure, college football, college basketball, AAA also contribute to their sport's popularity but the major leagues are the bulk of it.

    Soccer popularity however goes waaaaaaaay beyond the MLS. People watch the English Premier League, the Mexican League, the Italian Serie A (I do), the Euro, the Champions League, the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers, the Gold Cup, the World Cup finals, etc., etc. Although I do technically support NYCFC of MLS, I actually watch the Italian Serie A way more often than I watch NYCFC games. So, my viewership of soccer counts very little for the MLS, but regarding the sport as a whole, I do watch it very frequently on various services like Paramount+ and FuboTV.

    If one adds to MLS figures all the multiple soccer streaming and foreign leagues that are offered to fans in the American market, I'm quite sure that the popularity of the sport itself by now is catching up to baseball, soon to become America's third most popular sport, if it hasn't done it already (I've seen articles sustaining that it has happened, already). It's very hard to quantify all those multiple viewing platforms while it's very easy to quantify MLB's attendance and broadcasting. But add up all the fragmented viewership of soccer, and I'm quite sure it rivals baseball viewership.

    I don't think soccer currently has what it takes to be more popular in the United States than American football and basketball. But it has clearly leapfrogged ice hockey already, and is about to leapfrog baseball, the sport that has an aging demographic that is shrinking and is no longer the game that kids play; baseball diamonds everywhere in suburbia are being taken down to provide space for more soccer fields. The more kids play soccer, the more the sport gets popular in the years to come when they reach adulthood. So soccer popularity is expanding while baseball popularity is shrinking as the generation that loves baseball starts dying out and not getting replaced.
     
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  10. bigredfutbol

    bigredfutbol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 5, 2000
    Woodbridge, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Plus the summer when there's no domestic soccer. I don't know if this is still true, but a few years back you could watch MLS on a Bulgarian sports channel.
     
  11. BOSNAINTER

    BOSNAINTER Member

    krajina
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Feb 17, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    and that is a difference between american sport and soccer. nfl nba mlb hockey same people watch but soccer epl la liga serie a bliga are on same time or overlap so in reality at same time in usa maybe 3-4 different people wattch soccer and different league
     
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  12. An Unpaved Road

    An Unpaved Road Member+

    Mar 22, 2006
    Club:
    --other--
    I’m trending the other way. Increasingly MLS is the only club soccer that keeps me engaged all season long. The Champions League knockouts are fun too but generally even the top Euro domestic leagues don’t hold my attention like they once did.
     
  13. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Me too.
     
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  14. BOSNAINTER

    BOSNAINTER Member

    krajina
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Feb 17, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    i am oposite can nott get to watch american interpretation of football. it is boring. canadians are more humble and you can see it in their team tthe do not try push their unique culture into sport. like americans do. canadian nt and clubs play euro style football. american teams play some american version of football
     
  15. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So you're saying that Toronto FC, CF Montreal and Vancouver Whitecaps play a different style of football to the rest of MLS?
     
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  16. BOSNAINTER

    BOSNAINTER Member

    krajina
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Feb 17, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    yess. i mean you can see it. it is more sophisticated here in usa is more of just run run run. canadian teams play more sophistiated but with less quality players then europe
     
  17. An Unpaved Road

    An Unpaved Road Member+

    Mar 22, 2006
    Club:
    --other--
    Seems like this is becoming more common among those who follow MLS. Even ten years ago it seemed like MLS was often a secondary interest but now it’s more common to come across fans who consider MLS the center of their soccer fandom. I don’t even follow national teamers in Europe like I used to except for a few exceptions (Pulisic and Pepi currently). I used to be one of those fans who would get excited about transfers to Turkey and Scotland. Times change.
     
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  18. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
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  19. bigsoccertst1

    bigsoccertst1 Member+

    United States
    Sep 22, 2017
    I do not know buddy.

    I saw Toronto FC play last season... *sophisticated* would be the last thing I would have called that dumpster fire of a team.
     
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  20. An Unpaved Road

    An Unpaved Road Member+

    Mar 22, 2006
    Club:
    --other--
    Maybe that doesn’t count. I’ve noticed for some that the Canadian MLS clubs represent Canada when they do well and MLS when they do poorly. :ROFLMAO:
     
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  21. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
     
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  22. STR1

    STR1 Member+

    Atlanta United
    United States
    May 29, 2010
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Ditto
     
  23. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ratings for the Leagues Cup Showcase at SoFi:

     
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  24. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My local park has always had a small baseball triangle and a lacrosse field.

    It's just replaced the lacrosse field and goals with a full-size soccer pitch with brand new goals.
     
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  25. An Unpaved Road

    An Unpaved Road Member+

    Mar 22, 2006
    Club:
    --other--
    Mine used to have two soccer fields but in recent years one is now for lacrosse.
     

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