Popularity of Soccer Essay Example for Free

Popularity of soccer EssayWhen the unify States national association football squad defeated the Spanish national team in the semifinals of the 2009 Confederations transfuse, umpteen magnetic declinationswriters and fans called the U. S teams win one of the biggest upsets in modern soccer. Although the linked States is known for having dominant playing periods teams, many refuse to study that the United States has a good soccer team, let alone believe that the Statesns know about the sport soccer.In all fairness, even people in the United States do not believe that Americans know a lot about the sport and think it is a un familiar sport in the U. S. immense has been the misconception that soccer is not prevalent in the United States and that many Americans do not even know the rules of the game. In an episode of Family Guy, Chris Griffin is playing in a soccer game. The bleachers are almost empty with the exception of a handful criterion of people. When a ball is kick ed towards Chris, he catches the ball. The referee, dressed like an American football official, awards Chriss opponents a penalty kick with a tone and style of his speech as that of a football official.A parent of Chriss teammate yells out in anger because Chriss mistake awards the other team an immense advantage. This scene exemplifies the common misconception about soccer in the United States. The small number of audience in the crowd suggests that soccer is not a popular sport in America. Chriss lack of knowledge of the sport and the inaccurate uniform of the referee imply that many Americans do not know the rules of soccer and are not familiar with the sport because not many Americans play the sport.Furthermore, Chris lacks enthusiasm in his game this lack of enthusiasm illustrates the hypervisiblity of the popularity of soccer in the United States. Soccer was virtually unknown to Americans until 1967 when the first professional soccer league was set up in the United States. The league was named the North American Soccer League (NASL). The league attracted some of the most famous soccer fakes in the world such as the Brazilian Pele, arguably the best soccer player of all time, and the German Franz Beckenbauer, regarded as the best German player of all time.Although the league attracted some of the greatest players, soccer overall remained a less popular sports like baseball and football in the United States. perhaps Americans reluctance to follow the rules set by the British is the reason for soccers initially low popularity. Baseball and football, undoubtedly the two most popular sports in the United States, has its roots in the United Kingdom. An early form of baseball has been played in England in the mid-eighteenth century(The history of baseball).American football was originated from rugby football football, which originated in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century(American football history). However, the rules of baseball and American football agree been adapted by Americans from their origins to become American sports. Perhaps because Americans gift in place their own laws of these sports, baseball and football had been successfully integrated into the American culture and had been immensely popular since their beginnings. Soccer on the other hand, was nowhere near as popular as baseball and football when first introduced in the United States.Soccers laws were set forth by the internationalist Football Association Board (IFAB) which consists of the four United Kingdom countries associations- England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland(The International FA Board). The fact that the rules of soccer were not created by Americans and the fact that the sports rules were created by the United Statess competitive rivals may contribute to soccers originally low popularity. Whatever the reason, soccer was clearly not a popular sport in the United States even though it was by far the most popular sport in the world.Certainl y, the North American Soccer League (NASL) was not a widely watched league when it was established in 1967. Its low popularity did not improve as the NASL eventually failed in 1984. Although the much modify Major League Soccer (MLS) was founded in 1996(About MLS) to replace the NASL, the MLS was and is still not a very successful league in terms of compensation. The comely salary of a player in the MLS in 2010 is $138,169 compared to MLBs $3,297,828 (2010) (MLB Salaries), and NFLs $990,000 (2009) (NFL Player Salaries).In fact, the MLBs and the NFLs minimum salaries are far greater than the average MLS salary. MLBs minimum salary in 2009 was $400,000(MLBPA Info), while NFLs minimum salary in 2009 was $310,000. Based solely on salaries of professional athletes in the United States, one can get an idea of the low popularity of soccer compared to sports like baseball and football in the U. S. These stats may seem to support the hypervisibility of soccers popularity in the United Stat es, but in reality they do not reflect the growing adoration and acknowledgement of the sport.Soccers popularity in America has been growing since the inauguration of the NASL and the MLS. The MLS may seem unpopular based on the salaries of the players in the league, but spectator attendance suggests otherwise. The MLS averages 18,452 people per game, higher than National basketball game Leagues 17,110, and NHLs 17,004. In fact, the MLSs average attendance is even higher than the Scottish Premier Leagues average attendance(Avoiding the Drop). The amount of soccer players in America further emphasizes the tremendous popularity of the sport. In the U. S. , there are a total of 24,472,778 players.This number is far larger than some of the powerhouses in world soccer such as England which has 4,164,110 players, Brazil which has 13,197,733 players, and Spain which has 2,834,190 players(FIFA. com). Lastly, the 2010 World Cup had an average of 24. 3 million viewers in the United States. T he World serial and the NBA Finals, on the other hand, only averaged 19. 4 viewers and 18 million viewers respectively(deseretnews. com). The United States was not even in the final of the World Cup and still managed to attract more viewers than the World Series and the NBA finals.Had the U. S. National Team been in the final, the number of viewers of the World Cup final could have been significantly larger. The high number of attendance at MLS games, soccer players in the United States, and viewers of the World Cup final testifies against the hypervisibility that asserts that soccer is an unpopular sport in the United States. However, facts surrounding the attention of soccer in the United States firmly affirms that soccer has now established itself as one of the most popular sports in America.