Soccer in the USA 2002 - 2003 is a US Soccer Foundation publication I just ran across. Seems like a pretty useful document. It hits on all of the obvious (and not so obvious) themes we're always talking about in here: participation in the US; stadium construction; P-40; women's soccer, youth development, the media, etc. I've not had the time to read the whole thing, but here are a few highlights: - participation (from a 2001 national survey) is now over 19 million (up 1.3 million over the previous year). The largest area was in the 12-17 age group, which conflicts with a previous thread I remember reading which argued that most kids drop the sport by 13. Stats are broken down by age and gender, region,income ... you name it. Interestingly, the growth in numbers of players over the past 15 years isn't as large as I expected it would be. There were over 15 million players way back in 1987 (the 2001 number reflects a 24% increase). BUT adult participation is up 43% over that time (so kids in 1987 have stuck with the game), and players are playing a lot more soccer per person (total participation days are up 61%). Also, nearly 5 million of that 19 million total consider soccer to be their favorite sport. That's a 66% increase since '87. - a section that discusses the impact of the 2002 world cup (includes quotes from Nike, adidas, Philips, Yahoo, etc. execs). There's also a chart that runs down the TV ratings from the event. - a detailed breakdown of the administrative structure of soccer in the US (all the leagues, all the associations). I wasn't sure into which forum to place this (I mean, the document discusses all aspects of US soccer). But I figured this one would give it the biggest audience. In short, this looks to be a pretty useful document, especially if one wants to have some good stats on hand at all times in order to convince the sport's doubters that soccer is here to stay in the US. I just got my USSF membership renewal notice in the mail yesterday. Guess I'd better cut them a check. All in all, they do a decent job of helping the sport grow here. By the way, I found this while doing an Internet search in order to help a Duke student write a paper on soccer in the States. Wouldn't you know it, she went to the same high school as Freddy Adu. Small world.
Try this one: http://www.ussoccerfoundation.org/mediarel/display_E_42262.html and click on "download now" Sorry for the bad link.