U.S. Soccer: 5 Reasons Why it Won't Ever Be Embraced

Are you a frustrated soccer fan? Are you not a soccer fan? You're both probably curious why soccer can't seem to break into the hearts of American's and be recognized as one of our "major" sports. Well, it's a lot simpler than you might think, and the answer is pretty bleak. Read at your own caution.

5. There are no American-born stars
We have no Pele. We have no Ronaldinho. We have no David Beckham (though we have him on loan). As I write this article, the 2 biggest American-born soccer stars are Landon Donovan and Tim Howard. According to his website, Landon Donovan is the United States all-time leader in goals and assists. He recently won the MLS MVP! Most likely you knew neither of those facts, because being the most successful soccer player of this generation garners less publicity than whether Tiger Woods wore shoes when he crashed his car.
Tim Howard is a goalie who has played for Manchester United and currently with Everton F.C. He is also the goalkeeper for the United States national team, and is essential to their success in the upcoming 2010 World Cup. The vast majority of sports fans in the United States might know these 2 men, but the majority of MLS players are unknown. Take this in contrast to MLB or the NFL, where a fan of the sport knows easily half of the players across the league.

Star power is essential if you want to build a sustainable fan base. The NBA experiences a resurgence in the late 80's and early 90's because of stars like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. Baseball survived it's strike in the mid-90's because of the home run record chase by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa (this was albeit more deceit than showmanship). Bringing Beckham across the pond was an attempt to remedy this situation, but it has largely been a flop.

4. Major League Soccer has less talent
Major League Soccer isn't a fun league to watch! The best way to illustrate this point is with an analogy. People choose not to watch MLS in a similar way people choose not to watch minor league baseball over major league baseball. Why not skip the less skilled and go right to the league where the players are the best and the action is more intense? This analogy is imperfect because it insinuates that Americans are watching a league better than MLS, but they're choosing to watch no soccer at all. Still, it illustrates the problem. I would rather watch an International League match because I know the talent is much better. Here's another way of looking at it: If you've ever played a FIFA video game, you'll know that choosing to play with a MLS team is much less fun than playing with, say, AC Milan. The players are so slow, and they don't shoot nearly as accurately. It's like playing with a team of fat men. No one chooses to play with DC United because it's not fun. There, I said it. It's not fun.

3. Foreign stars don't want to play here
David Beckham doesn't count because he's practically American. Besides, his decision to play for the LA Galaxy was more driven by money than to play with elite talent or to win a championship that matters. His wife wanted a taste of America and he wanted to hit the bank (and he did).

As explained in the previous 2 points, Major League Soccer struggles to compete with the other major sports in America because there are no American-born stars to fill a mediocre league. The only other solution to this is to import them. Unfortunately, this does not happen either because MLS cannot afford to pay these stars what teams in Europe can. According to the blog MLS Daily, David Beckham was paid 6.5 million in 2009. Lucky him, because the next highest salary is under 3 million, and Landon Donovan the best American-born player only received $900,000. Let's compare this to the highest paid players in the world as listed by Football Industry. Beckham tops this list as well with his combined salary from the LA Galaxy and AC Milan - he made 32.4 million Euro's in 2008-09. The 20th highest paid player on the list, Francesco Totti, makes a little under 10 million Euro's a year. Why would any world-class soccer player want to go to the United States where he can be paid significantly less money, in a currency that is less valuable than the Euro? They don't.

2. The US does not dominate the sport
And we never will. Sports fans in the United States like to dominate things, that's why we've chosen to love the sports that we do. Baseball is the American sport, and all the world's best players come here to prove themselves on the big stage. Even though the United States did not win the World Baseball Classic it does not change the fact that the United States is the nation that produces the most world-class baseball players. The United States looks at the WBC as a hassle; many players from the US would rather not play and risk injury. Players from other countries look at the WBC as a place to showcase their talent, in effect trying out for a roster spot in MLB.

Similar cases can be made for the NBA and NFL. The US Olympic Basketball team didn't take home the gold in '04 and all it did was light a fire under the players. In '08 they came out and demolished the competition, reasserting what everyone knew: the US is the best basketball country in the world. And with the NFL it's not even an issue. Are there even any football teams in the rest of the world (I know that's not true, it's an exaggeration to make a point)?

1. We will never be able to win the World Cup
This is a similar point to #2. If we can't dominate the sport we don't invest too much in it. Likewise, many American's don't see a point in cheering on the United States in the World Cup because they think it's a lost cause. And maybe they're right, according to Wikipedia, since coming in 3rd in the first World Cup (1930 in Uruguay) we have not placed at all. The World Cup is the biggest stage in the world for any sport. It grinds the gears of many Americans that while we can dominate many other sports, and can consistently top the medals list at the Olympics, we cannot even crack the top 5 in the World Cup.