USA-Belgium delivered 9.6 overnight rating on ESPN; best ever for World Cup match on ESPN/ESPN2— Flora Kelly (@ESPNFlora) July 2, 2014
I'm still embarrassed that no one in the US media sees the huge negative elephant in the room. I can only hope that JK is trying to find a solution to our technical problems (read basic football skills). I could hardly watch our matches because we can't receive, keep, and distribute the ball at the same level of players from every other country! I am soooo sick of back passing in our own half, head bouncing everything in the air instead of dropping the ball to feet, not taking on players one on one with the ball, and losing the ball with bad passes and rock-like touches. Maybe it's because kids are split between different sports growing up, and we still draft players from colleges but the ball handling skills are just not there...after many many years of growing the sport! It's the pet peeve I've ranted on for most of my playing, coaching, watching 54 yr old life! Whew! I can now relax and watch the rest of the matches without the angst. Of course I would love to see the Dutch win (maiden name VerHage). And since my son's last name is Tellier he has also adopted the French team as a favorite. I wouldn't cry if Costa Rica or Colombia pulled out more wins. My year ago fave to win was Belgium...so a lot more interesting football ahead!
The Nielsen company said Wednesday that 16.5 million people watched the game on ESPN, with 5.1 million more seeing it on the Spanish-language Univision network. In addition, nearly 1.7 million people watched an online stream of the event, Nielsen said. http://m.espn.go.com/soccer/story?storyId=1929447&top&wjb=
It's not about anything we (the American infrastructure) can do to create a world class player with incredible technical skill. It's going to take kids from as old enough to walk to their teens playing soccer at home, pick up games on the street and at their local park and at school, being the game of choice, the obsession of choice, for kids across the country. We're not going to create a Maradona just by putting kids through academies. It has to become an obsession for kids out there.
Look, it's a matter of geography and economics. The US is not like Spain or England. There are way too many variables that make a disparate pro/rel system a horrible fit for our "first division" of soccer in this country(not to forget Canada included). We are not going to get super clubs in a handful of markets at the expense of perpetual losers just so you guys can be content in knowing we are doing it just like Europeans. There is no good argument for pro/rel in the US. There is, however, a mountain of good arguments against it.
I agree with this 100%. That's the key to real growth of talent here in the US. That's how I grew up playing in Lisbon, Portugal. Then I came to the states at 11 years old, and everything stopped. There was nowhere to play for fun. There were travel teams and high school. Then college. But that's not the same. Where I learned real skill was playing for fun with my friends. At about 6-11 years-old, we all played every day either on a dirt field with real goals (no nets), or a small concrete court. If no one was there to get a game going, I'd go out anyway and kick the ball around by myself on the concrete court, or kick it against the buildings, whatever. From morning till dark. We also played in school during breaks with a tennis ball or whatever we could make into a ball… little games 3-on-3. It was nonstop. I'm super pumped about how soccer is growing in the US though… I made this little infographic yesterday on soccer tv ratings in the US:
Average viewers per game through quarterfinals, ESPN/ESPN2/ABC2006: 1,961,0002010: 2,947,0002014: 4,190,000— Seth Vertelney (@svertelney) July 6, 2014
World Cup final drew a 9.7 overnight rating, third-highest for a soccer match ever in the U.S, highest not involving USMNT.— Chris Henderson (@chris_awk) July 14, 2014
The World Cup Final logged 26.5 million total viewers; 17.3 million on ABC and 9.2 million on Univision.— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) July 14, 2014
And a touch more context: With 26.5m combined ABC/Univision viewers, 2014 WC final is the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history, beating 2014 USA/Portugal (24.7m)— Seth Vertelney (@svertelney) July 14, 2014
Going from 401,000 to 567,000 is actually a 41% increase, not 29%. 29% of the total MLS Twitter followers joined during the World Cup.
the US haters of soccer should stop all this hate towards soccer... just stop it!!! the same old quote "soccer players are flopping" . Football is far from being a clean sport. Why they are afraidWhats the point of all this hate? Soccer has his own place in US sports. No need to bash soccer with the same lame quotes.Cheaters you find in soccer, in the so much loved football( bill bellicheck, remember?),and in so many other sports.Soccer has come to US,and will stay, deal with it !!!!
I read in a Dutch newspaper, that the match of the Orange team against Mexico had even more spectators in the USA than in the Netherlands.
Through just the first week of the 2014 World Cup, Facebook saw more interactions than it had for the Sochi Olympics, Super Bowl, and Academy Awards combined. The biggest reason for soccer's growth in the US is the internet. Not the melting pot or soccer moms. A new generation of kids is growing up embracing soccer and they feel a sense of belonging to the popular soccer community on Twitter, Facebook... Lebron James now has to contend with Ronaldo and Messi replacing him as kids' role models and idols. Detractors don't want to accept that top soccer teams are wealthier than American teams with bigger and better marketers and sponsors.
If you're referring to the Baby Boomers, 99% of them are a lost cause. Many of them still believe soccer is a Communist conspiracy to destroy the US, so there's no reasoning with such delusional people. No matter what you say to them, they will regard you as "other," "Un-American," etc. Also, soccer haters, like most trolls, have nothing better to do than criticize what others like. Their lives are so boring and/or so terrible that they resort to this kind of behavior out of a form of deep-seated insecurity or some other mental illness. It's the only thing that can explain why they go out of their way to post vitriol on soccer articles and forums, when most soccer fans don't do that in Basketball, Baseball, and American Football forums. I have never seen Rugby Union, Rugby League, Aussie Rules, or Cricket get the kind of hostile coverage Soccer has traditionally received in the USA.
I see that ESPN on the scroll , promotes soccer, big time.In the past, they gave the final results of MLS and Mexican league results and livescore of Champions League UEFA. Now, on the scroll , they put livescore of MLS matches and news such as the transfer amount of james rodriguez to real or the comeback of drogba to Chelsea.Good job, ESPN.
http://www.denverpost.com/rapids/ci...no-match-popularity-soccers-manchester-united About the popularity the MUFC in the world, not exactly the popularity of soccer in USA, but however interesting........