I was listening to ESPN radio the other night and Amy Lawrence, a regular back-up host, was questioning why it still is that soccer doesn't catch on as a spectator sport in the United States. This question made sense once upon a time. That time is past. Soccer has been making steady inroads in the United States for the past fifteen to twenty years and the future of soccer at both the participatory and spectator sport levels is bright. People who are old enough to remember the failure of the North American Soccer League still labor under the impression that soccer has no following in the United States. Here is why this is wrong in no particular order....
Major League Soccer (MLS): The MLS has been a powerful engine for growth of the game in the United States. Having learned from the failure of the NASL they avoided the trap of going after big name players as a way of driving the sport. Down that road lies your sport as a curiosity. Instead, they have set sensible financial parameters in place and built slowly and steadily. If I could have a franchise in any sport today to hold for the future I'd take an MLS franchise. In the past few years we have seen the introduction of some name players, but in a responsible way that doesn't bankrupt the league. More importantly, when the league came into existence, one franchise, the Columbus Crew, had a soccer specific stadium. Now many of the MLS franchises have soccer only facilities. And the MLS has discovered a soccer hotbed in the Pacific Northwest. The franchise in Seattle is drawing 36,000 people for home games (which actually allows them to play in a football stadium and not look like they are playing to an empty structure as was the problem for so long in places like Kansas City. Portland and Vancouver have each been added to the league in the recent past and have brought rabid followings with them. Some people feel compelled to run down MLS soccer as a pale imitation of the great leagues of Europe - so be it. MLS is clearly not at a level with top leagues in England, Italy or Germany. The soccer being offered here is increasing in quality each year and the product is enjoyable and competitive. Beyond that, as fans get more attached to their teams, the enjoyment of the league grows.
National Team Play: Both the Women's and the Men's national team have played important roles in the success of soccer in the US. The Men have have produced some good results in regional play and have qualified for the past several World Cups, a feat that is not to be overlooked. Several home grown stars have emerged: Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey are prime examples. And then there is our wonderful Women's team. From the first generation stars such as Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Christine Lilly and Brandi Chastain to current mainstays like Abby Wambach and Hope Solo, the women's team has demonstrated a remarkable ability to produce great players who were also great personalities and ambassadors for the game. And it seems that with each major event our teams produce a memorable game that pushes the sport that much further into the limelight. The recent US women's comeback win over Brazil in the Women's World Cup is another example of this. The ESPN family of networks was covered over with coverage of Women's Soccer following the game - which is the best kind of promotion - excitement generated by actual onfield accomplishment.
Youth Leagues: I didn't go track down the numbers, but it seems to be a given that for a good long time now the sport with the most children and young people playing it in the United States has been soccer. This has actually been one of the points that critics point to, asking why it's so popular to play and yet can't get an audience to come and watch the pro version. To which I'd reply, not too creatively, Rome wasn't built in a day. It's growing. The more people play the more people know the game, the more people don't get confused by the offsides rule, the more people understand the nuances and particularities of the game, the more migration we will see from youth player to fan and from youth player to college and, for some, pro player.
All of which combined leads to a sport that is on the rise. Slowly, incrementally moving forward. The days of the goofy sportscaster who takes the obligatory cheap shot at soccer is on the decline. Bottom line, all of the above factors are built on the best of solid foundations - soccer is a great game. It is the beautiful game. It is a true team sport - which surely produces it's individual geniuses - but which just as surely is reliant on the team functioning as a team. Take the Abby Wambach equalizer goal in the Brazil game for example. Wambach, in my estimation the best women's player we've produced, brought her unique skill set to bear on that goal, but it would have never happened if the rest of the team had not executed. Time was running down in extra time. Many teams in that situation would simply have dumped the ball forward, chased and hoped for the best. And probably come up empty. Not the US women. Instead the possessed the ball from the defensive end. They made good passes that allowed them to possess the ball over the midfield. They put the ball on the foot of Megan Rapinoe who made a spectacular pass to Wambach in the box (you try and be that precise with a ball from that distance) and Abby did her special magic. Team.
Soccer in the United States is on the rise. Truth. It's happening.
