Soccer is one of the fastest growing sports in America as far as popularity is concerned. Kids are playing the sport at a higher rate than ever before in the U.S. and the World Cup is one of the most anticipated events in the country every four years. However, how big can it get?
To understand how big it can get, you have to understand how big it is right now. Last year, the Women’s World Cup drew more American viewers than the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup. The amount of soccer moms in America is at an all time high because youth soccer is at an all time high getting closer in popularity to basketball among high schoolers. The MLS is rapidly expanding by creating teams all over the country and European leagues are becoming increasingly popular among the younger demographic. I have a lot of friends that not only follow the leagues, but have favorite teams that they support as if they lived in Europe. Basically, soccer is big.
However, imagine this. A society in which the NFL was king in international sport and soccer was a weekly event that dominated America. There’s just some things that can’t be fathomed. This is one of them.
Baseball is declining and the NBA is growing. But, the NFL is king. This is a once a week event that happens for a few months. There are many reasons why the NFL is so popular in the US, but the fact of the matter is is that the NFL has such a head start in popularity over soccer that it just can’t catch up unless something crazy happens in the NFL (and even that hasn’t stopped them). The NBA has a head start as well and they are growing thanks to stars like Stephen Curry and LeBron James. It will be the primary sport all over the world. In the US, the most it can hope for is passing baseball, which might be possible if you look at the declining popularity of baseball in the youth and the rising popularity of soccer in the youth. The children are our future.
The Soapbox 