Why America Hates Soccer

Although soccer is an extremely popular sport in most of the rest of the world it has never quite taken off in the United States. American fans may briefly get excited if the national team does well in the World Cup or the Olympics, but the excitement quickly fades and soccer again looses its attraction. While there are fanatical soccer fans all over the world soccer is just not a sport embraced by the typical American sports fan.

The Big Three
For Americans the three most popular sports are football, basketball, and baseball and they consume the entire school year and usually attract the best athletes. Since most athletes start their serious athletic careers on their school teams, participation is governed by the school calendar. Some high school athletes may participate in two or rarely three sports, but most spend at least part of their off season training for their main sport. They don't have time for another sport and if they do it is usually one of the big three. In addition to these three, volleyball, hockey, softball, tennis, and track are also very popular. Even if an athlete chooses to play two sports in high school for many of them soccer is far down the list.

Low Scoring Games
American sports fans are used to fast paced action filled games and the typical soccer game does not seem to provide that. A low scoring or non-scoring game is just not the usual sports experience that an American sports fan is expecting. The athleticism, ball handling, and stamina may be admired, but 90 minutes of play with a single goal is just not what most Americans want to watch.

Tie Games and Shoot Outs
In addition to low scoring games, many Americans dislike the idea that a game can end in a draw or be decided by a shoot out. Although they have shoot outs in hockey, a soccer shoot out, where the outcome essentially depends on the goalie's guess, is not what the American fan is used to. Watching a game for 90 minutes and then having the outcome decided by a shoot out or result in a tie is not the ideal American fan experience. All the major popular sports in the United States have adopted elaborate over-time rules to avoid ties.

Lack Of College Scholarships
At the college level soccer is considered an equivalency sport by the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Division 1 programs are allowed 9.9 scholarships for men and 12 for women. Being an equivalency sport means that scholarships can be shared among players. Given that most Division 1 teams have between 20 and 30 players, there are very few full ride scholarships offered. In addition, to be recruited for college soccer a player usually needs to play on a good club team as well as their school team. This can present a host of problems as far as travel and study time for most high school students. For these reasons talented high school athletes don't tend to choose soccer as their first sport.

The Fame Factor
Many high school athletes dream of being LeBron James, Peyton Manning, Sidney Crosby, Alex Rodriguez, or any other famous wealthy professional athlete. The dreams may not be realistic, but they can't help imagining themselves in those shoes. Particularly male athletes, who have an abundance of role models, covet the money and fame of professional athletes. In America there are no "household name" American soccer players. The one who would come closest is probably Freddie Adu who now plays in Europe. Again talented athletes in America just don't see soccer as a path to the fame and wealth available to the best athletes.

Soccer is slowly growing in popularity and youth leagues in particular have really grown, but kids don't stick with soccer as they get older. It is popular as a youth sport because at that level it is very easy to play and participate with few skills. It also requires little equipment and thus it costs very little to organize a soccer team. As the better athletes show talent they almost always move on to the more popular sports. Sports, that in the American mind, have more excitement as well as greater scholarship, wealth, and fame potential.

Sources:

http://baleta.blogspot.com/2006/04/how-popular-is-soccer-in-usa-and-what.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_in_the_United_States

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1270849,00.htm