How popular are football (soccer) players in USA?
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GunkWinger
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bleedblue1223
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Basement Cat
Frank Drebin
MLS actually has like the 7th or 8th highest attendance in the world for any soccer league.
But to answer your question, 99% of MLS (and USMNT) players are no recognizable to the average American.
But to answer your question, 99% of MLS (and USMNT) players are no recognizable to the average American.
bleedblue1223
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In the regions where the teams are, the players are very popular. SKC players are very popular in Kansas City, as is the national team. The US kind of splits into 3-4 categories. A group of die-hards that follow every bit of the sport; a larger group that enjoys the sport and knows the team in their region really well, and has a decent understand of the big players around the world, but not a ton; people that follow during the World Cup; and then a lot of the country just doesn't care.
Attendance is always really high league-wide, and many teams sell-out way more than they don't, with many having long sell-out streaks. Popularity in the States is probably on par with Hockey, they just don't come close to the money or youth development quality.
If the US can ever get to a point where multiple of the top athletes choose soccer, then it will be a big game changer, but until then the MLS will continue to organically grow into a higher quality league.
Attendance is always really high league-wide, and many teams sell-out way more than they don't, with many having long sell-out streaks. Popularity in the States is probably on par with Hockey, they just don't come close to the money or youth development quality.
If the US can ever get to a point where multiple of the top athletes choose soccer, then it will be a big game changer, but until then the MLS will continue to organically grow into a higher quality league.
Yeah. It's not bad.
Obviously a lot of it is down to the population in NA, but still not bad.
Chimaera
same ol' Caps
I teach in a suburban, mid to lower socio-economic school where most of my students are minorities (though only a small number of Latinos). For the majority of my students who are typically black, they have no idea who soccer players are.
That said, we do have some upper middle class students, some who are from military families that have been overseas, or the random soccer players who are on travel teams. I've seen jerseys from everything from Marco Reus to Willian to a rack of Neymar shirts. I'm not sure that they know much more than the player and probably a few clubs. But they're more known than you would think.
It's a minority group, but it's growing.
That said, we do have some upper middle class students, some who are from military families that have been overseas, or the random soccer players who are on travel teams. I've seen jerseys from everything from Marco Reus to Willian to a rack of Neymar shirts. I'm not sure that they know much more than the player and probably a few clubs. But they're more known than you would think.
It's a minority group, but it's growing.
spintheblackcircle
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International football is getting huge. I'm noticing more and more athletes doing the Ronaldo goal celebration when they sack a QB or make a great play. When other pro athletes impersonate you, that's pretty good.
Luigi Habs
Captain Saku
Speaking of Mtl population here.
Minorities know most of star players. Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, most RM and Barcelona players as well as top EPL clubs players are generally known.
Native people barely know any player aside from Messi and Ronaldo. Some are also more familiar with Montreal Impact players, mainly the local guys (Bernier, Ballou, etc.) and the star players in the club (Ciman, Piatti, Dzemaili).
I would say also a portion of the population have no idea about anything related to soccer, if I may dare to predict around 15%.
Minorities know most of star players. Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, most RM and Barcelona players as well as top EPL clubs players are generally known.
Native people barely know any player aside from Messi and Ronaldo. Some are also more familiar with Montreal Impact players, mainly the local guys (Bernier, Ballou, etc.) and the star players in the club (Ciman, Piatti, Dzemaili).
I would say also a portion of the population have no idea about anything related to soccer, if I may dare to predict around 15%.
Due to our demographics, Toronto has always been a low-key soccer city (to the chagrin of a lot of the MSM here), so the main international guys are known by a good portion of the population. The increased ability to watch games from around the world has created a really good pub culture here that at times can be truly fantastic. Last World Cup I went to 17 different main bars for different countries in the tournament and all of them were packed to the brim.
While I would say there are still a very large number of people who denigrate the local league, the success of TFC over the past two years has also certainly increased awareness in MLS (main guys like Giovinco but also Canadians such as Osorio/Ricketts/Edwards). But outside of Giovinco/Bradley (mostly because Giovinco is really short and Bradley is bald) 99.9% of people wouldn't recognize any TFC player on the street.
Similar to the Montreal post above, there's also probably 15-20% of the population that just knows absolutely nothing about soccer. But most people jumped on the TFC bandwagon during their run to the finals last year and since they're on pace to be the best MLS team ever this year that number is dropping.
While I would say there are still a very large number of people who denigrate the local league, the success of TFC over the past two years has also certainly increased awareness in MLS (main guys like Giovinco but also Canadians such as Osorio/Ricketts/Edwards). But outside of Giovinco/Bradley (mostly because Giovinco is really short and Bradley is bald) 99.9% of people wouldn't recognize any TFC player on the street.
Similar to the Montreal post above, there's also probably 15-20% of the population that just knows absolutely nothing about soccer. But most people jumped on the TFC bandwagon during their run to the finals last year and since they're on pace to be the best MLS team ever this year that number is dropping.
Especially considering Basti was my favorite player along with Drogba for many years, this really cracked me up.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/fan-poses-photo-chicago-fire-10269687.amp
I'm not in a soccer state. Most people know the names Messi and Ronaldo, but not much more. This isn't to say there aren't soccer fans, I've run into a couple, but most the people I know who go to the MLS games treat it more like a carnival than a bitter sporting event.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/fan-poses-photo-chicago-fire-10269687.amp
I'm not in a soccer state. Most people know the names Messi and Ronaldo, but not much more. This isn't to say there aren't soccer fans, I've run into a couple, but most the people I know who go to the MLS games treat it more like a carnival than a bitter sporting event.
bleedblue1223
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Pavel Buchnevich
Drury and Laviolette Must Go
I agreed with all of your post, except for this.
I don't think this is true. Lebron James or JJ Watt can't decide at age 15 they want to be soccer players, and then soccer in the USA will improve. You wouldn't have ever heard of them if they did that. They wouldn't be good enough, and they would've never made it as pros.
This is 75% a problem of not enough kids who grow up their whole life dreaming of being footballers, starting when they are 2 or 3, playing all day from the second they get home from school to the second they go to sleep, along with knowing that they have to make it as soccer players, they can't fall back on saying they can go to Stanford and become a business executive making 500K per year. In almost all the countries that are producing the top players, this is the formula they follow. If a kid from Argentina or Colombia doesn't make it as a professional footballer, he's probably not going to have a very big paycheck. You either have the kids with that desire or you don't. You can't teach that, Pulisic had it, there will need to be more like that. And its 25% of a problem with how poorly organized player production is in the USA, which is definitely getting better, but is still a complete mess compared to the top countries. That'll take some more time.
Rugby, lacrosse, and hockey are the three fastest growing sports in the USA in that order.
No one cares about the MLS except in few remote regions like Seattle, Portland, and Columbus. Personally me being a big football fan, I cannot name a single star player or hidden gem in this league except Donovan and Bradley who get insanely hyped by solely ESPN during World Cup years. It's pretty niche and I've never had a conversation about it with anybody and I live in an area that has an MLS team. Even with the huge Latino population at some regions of the USA, they watch Real Madrid, Barca, or Liga MX instead of the MLS.
No one cares about the MLS except in few remote regions like Seattle, Portland, and Columbus. Personally me being a big football fan, I cannot name a single star player or hidden gem in this league except Donovan and Bradley who get insanely hyped by solely ESPN during World Cup years. It's pretty niche and I've never had a conversation about it with anybody and I live in an area that has an MLS team. Even with the huge Latino population at some regions of the USA, they watch Real Madrid, Barca, or Liga MX instead of the MLS.
bleedblue1223
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I didn't say top basketball/football players all of a sudden deciding to play soccer at age 15. What I was trying to say, would be if Kobe Bryant continued to play soccer when he started in Italy and took it seriously, and if the US development at the time was at least to this level or if he ended up going back to Europe. If soccer ever becomes a more viable long-term option in the States, then it's possible that more athletes at an early age will stick with it. If more stick with it, it's more likely that you will get some of the natural born elite athletes playing the sport.
If all of a sudden, soccer become the biggest sport in the US, and every player in the MLS was making 1 million+, then 10-15 years from now, the US would be dominating on the world stage. That isn't going to happen, but that's the extreme of my point.
No where did I even imply that top athletes would just decide to play soccer at an early age.
Pavel Buchnevich
Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Right, and I agree. I wasn't sure if thats what you were saying. If you look at participation numbers, it doesn't need to be the most popular sport in the USA, there are a lot of people who participate compared to other countries, due to how big the US population is. Soccer takes enough of those athletes away from other sports, its other things that are holding the sport back in the USA.
bleedblue1223
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You're right there are other factors, but quality of the athletes are definitely a factor as well. I don't care about participation numbers, and what I'm talking about can't be quantified. I'm talking about the amount of natural born elite athletes.
Ok, that's your experience and your perspective. As prefaced, mine comes from the people I know who have attended MLS games. As I said, my state isn't much of a soccer state, and I know a lot more about soccer than most if not all of my friends who have gone to watch the local team.
Basement Cat
Frank Drebin
KingLB
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Clearly you know soccer, reference a retired player, use the lowest attended team in the league to point out a "remote region" that people care about (also Ohio is remote....), and have never heard of David Villa or Giovinco or either Vela.
Gecklund
Registered User
Strongly disagree. Places like Toronto, LA, and NY are huge soccer venues. Also Columbus? Cmon. No one watches Columbus. Soccer might not be the biggest sport but I think a lot of it starts with the media. As a kid I always watched sports center with my dad and I never saw soccer on there. Still never see soccer on there. They need to show the highlight plays of Dempsey, Gio, Villa, the Dos Santos brothers, etc. etc.
You may think an area or state doesn't care about soccer till they talk about bringing an MLS team in. Orlando having only 1 pro team of the big 4 leagues has made it more of a niche sport town than a pro town. It's why the Predators of the Arena league, until they just recently folded, and Solar Bears of the old IHL and current ECHL have done well here. The Lions came in and had good attendance, for the USL, from the start. When ownership talked about MLS being realistic and wanted to see the city's support they got over 20k to the USL championship game. There's soccer fans all over the country they just need a reason to come out. Orlando being a tourist town you see a lot of jerseys from all nations and leagues but not more than you see purple all over town.
MLS attendance for the most part is good but it's at best 3rd-4th most watched league in the US (not counting national team and especially not counting World Cups). MLS ratings are pretty poor despite the spin they put on them increasing (it is increasing...but still below stuff like WNBA, bowling, drag cars etc)
I think this is where playing in the summer hurts, no one is gonna want to sit home and watch MLS on a beautiful weekend. Problem is football dominates the weekends in the fall, you can't really play in all stadiums during the winter and the spring is loaded with content already.
I also tend to think most fans are ones who will watch their local team but have no interest in watching a random match on ESPN/FS1 not involving their team. That's the case with me at least, I will watch NYRB but I haven't watched one full match of MLS since that Minnesota snow game earlier this season, there is simply no incentive
Too many games for a league where half the teams make the playoffs
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