Why Americans Don't Follow Soccer

Soccer is probably the most popular sport in the world. However, in the U.S., Basketball, Baseball and American Football easily surpass Soccer in terms of popularity. Though there are soccer fans in the U.S., and there is a good soccer team, but many people believe that soccer will never be really in the same league as American football, basketball and baseball in the U.S.

Here are top 5 reasons why soccer will never be big in the U.S., according to some keen observers of the sport:

Reason # 1

At the grassroots level, there is not much enthusiasm about Soccer among the American people. Sports like basketball, baseball, American football, tennis, and even golf have completely overshadowed and dominated the sports scene in the U.S. In the current scenario, there is hardly any room left for another sport to emerge as a very major and popular one.

Reason # 2

There are no legendary soccer icons in the U.S. soccer history that could inspire the younger generations to follow the sport. Diego Maradona, Pele, Ronaldo and other soccer superstars belong to Latin America. Even the English soccer icon, David Beckham who has adopted the U.S. as his second home is not able to make much difference to the popularity of the sport here. Here the youngsters are inspired by icons like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, who belong to other sports.

Reason # 3

Another one among the top 5 reasons why soccer will never be big in the U.S., according to many people is that perhaps soccer does not gel with the typical "American Way" of life. The sport can be extremely rough, and many parents do not encourage their kids to take up soccer as their favorite sport. Watching soccer also perhaps requires more patience from Americans because it can be a low scoring game.

Reason # 4

Soccer has a reputation of being associated with unruly crowds, and aggression on and off the field sometimes. There are highly publicized instances in the history of this sport that have contributed to this image, which may put off many people from following the sport. At the same time, certain countries that dominate the game of soccer may reflect an image of snobbery towards other countries that have a lower quality of performance in this sport. This also causes disillusionment for many soccer fans in the U.S.

Reason # 5

From a marketing and business perspective, one of the top 5 reasons why soccer will never be big in the U.S. is that there is huge support of American corporate sponsors to other American sports compared to soccer. As a result, maximum investments and resources are used up in promoting and developing other sports that are more popular and more profitable from a business point of view.

While Soccer has gained some popularity in the U.S. over the past decade it will probably never be as popular as other American sports.