The art of football is an institution to so many countries around the world, with the real lovers being those who reside in England. The sport hasn’t fared so well over the years in the USA, where they much prefer American football, basketball and baseball, but many believe it has become more of a popular sport.
Ever since what they call “soccer” became a sport played regularly in the USA, many Americans have seen it as a lesser sport. It’s often joked that soccer is seen as boring when compared to the more American sports. That being said, the past decade has seen a huge boost in how people perceive the game. As of 2006, thirty percent of American households contain a soccer player, which means the sport only comes second to baseball. To many people, the idea that soccer is being played more than basketball or American football in the States is absolutely insane, but this just shows how much the perception of the sport has changed. Not only this, but soccer has become somewhat of a “cool” sport to those outside the bracket of sports fans. It will often be spurned by supposed hardcore sports fans, but welcomed openly by more casual followers.
The popularity of the sport in the USA has been growing for the past fifty years, with a lot of the momentum coming after they hosted the 1994 World Cup. While bringing the game into people’s houses, it also got people interested in the game through a nationwide togetherness. In a similar vein, there are many who do not follow football in England who will then tune in whenever the World Cup is on. Despite this increase in popularity, soccer continues to be completely different to how the sport originally was. While the rules of the game obviously stay the same, there isn’t a league that contains a system of promotion or relegation, and they have also incorporated things , such as play-offs, from their Americanised sports into soccer.
As the popularity of the sport began to take off, soccer did end up looking quite a lot like football after a while. Among the changes include the allowance of a tie instead of always having a penalty shootout, the introduction of stoppage time and the use of advertisements on the kit worn by the players. In England, football teams have their sponsors proudly emblazoned on their shirt, something that wasn’t brought into America until the last decade. Now, soccer clubs are welcomed to allow corporate sponsors to come forward for the chance to be placed on their kit. This has obviously contributed even further to the higher profile of soccer in the USA and allowed for more money to be pumped into the sport.
Along with the money from advertisements comes revenue. In 2009, the annual TV market in the USA for soccer competitions came in at $126 million. The annual revenue for the FIFA World Cup comes in at $134 million, with Fox Sports spending $475 million on a contract that allows them the ability to show the World Cup from this year until 2026. This increase in money has invariably brought players from all around the world that would’ve otherwise stayed away from soccer to play in the USA.
One of the more famous examples is David Beckham, who moved from Real Madrid to LA Galaxy in 2007. Not only do people come to the USA to play soccer, many of their own players are now moving out from the country to play football across the world, something that would not have been done much before the sport became more popular.
This move into the global sport arena has brought an increased viewership from the soccer fans. Ever since the 1994 World Cup, the amount of viewers has gone up every single time, until the most recent World Cup in Brazil, when a record 291.6 million people tuned in to watch soccer. For some reference, this is well over double the number of viewers for the SuperBowl that year. In fact, since 1994, the viewers of the soccer World Cup have gone up by just under 150 million, while the SuperBowl has only seen a 20 million rise in that same period.
It’s not surprising that soccer had its eventual rise in America. With the sport absolutely dominating globally, so many countries producing word class players, and the sport welcoming sponsorships and other commercial possibilities, it was only a matter of time before the USA embraced it. Here’s hoping that the beautiful game will continue to see a rise in not only the States, but in all countries.
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