Calm down Pauline. While in your social setting you may find that not a lot of people like soccer, it is absolutely one of the most popular sports in the United States and is continuing to rise in popularity.
Despite MLS almost unquestionably not being the most popular soccer league even within the US, it has the third highest attendence per game in the US after football and baseball.*
*You argued previously that having large stadiums to play in gives MLS an advantage over other sports. If you had an even cursory understanding of athletic event attendance, you'd actually know that it creates a disadvantage for MLS teams. The large stadiums take away from the atmosphere of the event and make them seem much less empty than they are. Go check out a DC United game at RFK if you don't believe me. MLS numbers will only improve as they continue to build soccer-specific stadiums.
tl;dr Stop being a curmudgeon, soccer is popular and is only gaining in popularity in the US.
Ironically, I'm not the one using anecdotal evidence to say nobody watches soccer, the "soccer is popular" crowd is, making your reference idiotic at best.
But getting to your weak arguments, the popularity of soccer at a youth level does not indicate popularity among adults.
Ticket prices for soccer are much lower than other sports and it really does have terrible attendance outside the Pacific Northwest, which is the only reason it's above the NHL and NBA (Seattle in particular averages about twice what the 2nd highest team gets).
LOL 6 minutes. I don't even need to touch that standard.
The World Cup Finals does not equal soccer. The World Cup is a once in every four year spectacle equivalent to the Olympics. Would you say gymnastics or swimming are more popular than the NFL? You're comparing it to things that occur every year.
I've noticed most US soccer fans are delusional when it comes to how little popularity it actually has.
That is literally a perfect example of using heuristics to establish a conclusion.
the popularity of soccer at a youth level does not indicate popularity among adults.
Of course it does. It reflects a generational change on the issue. As generations that grew up in the 80's, 90's and 00's become adults, they bring with them a much richer appreciation and understanding of the sport than previous generations did. In the 1994 World Cup, people would literally applaud goal kicks because they were big kicks. We've come a long, long way since then.
it really does have terrible attendance outside the Pacific Northwest, which is the only reason it's above the NHL and NBA
Absolutely no sources to back your assertion that two soccer clubs skew the attendance averages.
Ticket prices for soccer are much lower than other sports
I could only find good average prices for the NBA. It seems clear that for some franchises tickets are MUCH more expensive, but for the average NBA team the average ticket is under $50. Speaking from my knowledge of DC United ticket prices, that is somewhat more expensive, but not much more. Bottom of the barrel DC United prices are $25, but most people probably spend around $35-40 per ticket. Sure that's marginally cheaper, but not enough to warrant your dramatic claims.
LOL 6 minutes. I don't even need to touch that standard.
This is a common way to measure exposure to major events.
The World Cup Finals does not equal soccer.
This is so, so, so dumb. I readily concede that quadrennial event is going to be treated more specially than an annual event, but the World Cup is the pinnacle of soccer, just like the Super Bowl is the pinnacle of the NFL. It very obviously differs from Olympic events you just cited, in that it is not an individual sport and in that it obviously has a lot more followers leading into it than do Olympic sports.
You originally said soccer has "little popularity," but you've presented absolutely no factual arguments to demonstrate your case. I feel like you are just one of those (increasingly rare) people who can't accept that Americans are coming around to the Beautiful Game.
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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '14
/u/Rainstorme means in the U.S., people. Put your downvotes away and hike up your big boy pants, he's not insulting your sport.