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Team USA couldn’t deliver another comeback win but their loss to Ghana in Round 16 delivered blockbuster ratings for ABC. The Saturday match, which Ghana won 2-1 in overtime, is now the most-watched FIFA World Cup game with 14.9 million viewers. As it was for all 3 previous team USA matches, San Diego was the top market with a 15.4 household rating. Through 50 games of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the ESPN networks are averaging a 1.8 U.S. rating and 2.8 million viewers. The rating is up 48% from 2006, while viewers are up 60%.
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Finally the US cares about soccer! That is actually a respectable rating for any sport or program.
Great ratings but World Cup aside, soccer will never be a major US sport. It is unwatchable for 95 percent of the game. Compare watching that to an NFL game or a hockey game. There is no comparison. There is just not enough offense. The officiating is archaic and the sport is starving for instant replay on questionable calls in the box. I Wonder what the ratings would have been if not for those ridiculous horns.
Watch some more soccer and you will soon realize that its about playing the game with skill, not about scores or technology.
Obviously you didn’t watch any of the U.S. comebacks. I was on the seat of my chair the whole time! And compared to football? That’s laughable. Talk about unwatchable. Yeah the action is real intense for like 20 seconds then there is a 5 minute commercial break. It is only a 60 minute game and it takes as long if not longer than a 90 minute soccer game. I respect a sport that doesn’t interrupt the flow of the game for advertisements. Not to mention the World Cup is the most watched sporting event in the world as is. Hands down. I do agree the referee system is much different than in American sports and at times I wish they had instant replay. But that doesn’t fix everything like you would first think. Even in football you can’t instant replay/challenge a holding call which is equivalent to the pushing and shoving that goes on inside the penalty area of a soccer game so I don’t really know how much that would even help.
Rocky, your comments are simply nonsense. Do you know which is the most played and popular sport around the world ???… it’s soccer!
and that is a real world cup, not the infamous US “World Series” ha, ha, ha.
So what? Does every country and nation have to be the same? A grey, gelatinous homogenization of pretty much all the worst stuff from everywhere?
I doubt Americans want to watch soccer, and become mini-Europeans. Any more than Japanese want to give up Sumo, to become fake-Italians, or Indians their beloved short-format Cricket to become homogenized Germans.
In fact, I’ll argue that increased globalization, trade, and immigration makes people hold onto cultural traditions HARDER and more unwilling to adopt a “foreign” sport. It’s one thing to have very minimal contact with foreigners, another to lose out in manufacturing, trade, and be made a minority in your city, county, or State.
The more soccer is made a Latin American “Reconquista” of America, the more Americans cling to Jackie Robinson, Marion Motley, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, George Blanda, and Cal Ripken Jr. The sports that defined America, not a sport beloved of the new conquering colonizers forming the demographic majority.
You do know that soccer is also the number sport in “First World” Counties as well. Why the comment about “Latin America”?
….. wait a minute… is that…? Wait.. yes it is!
WHISKEY COMMENT THAT’S NOT COMPLETELY FUCKING RIDICULOUS!!!
The devil must be ice skating in hell right now.
But yes, I actually… agree with Whiskey here. Let Americans have their sports. It’s very hard for an American raised on American sports to really get into soccer. It took me living in Thailand on and off for 5 years to get into it and I will admit this last World Cup has been phenomenal. Lots of upsets and exciting games. Plenty to cheer about.
A 60 minute NFL, Hockey, Basketball, and god forbid we throw in baseball game takes hours to complete. You are force fed about 40 minutes of commercials while a 90 minute soccer game including injury time and half time break is done in less than 2 hours. A goal in soccer has meaning. The problem is you don’t have anything invested in it. However, when the US plays and people are aware of the personalities then it becomes very interesting. Though the US Algeria game had only one goal, it was pure ecstasy for the millions of US fans because they appreciated what went into it. With that said there are many games which are boring in soccer as in any sport. Maybe they should add commercials during every stoppage and then it may seem faster for you.
you hit it right on the money!!
If there were lots of scoring, the goals would not mean as much and they would not be as passionate as they are now. The game is about the build up of a play wheter the ball goes into the net or not. Above all, it is about patriotism in what is truly a global sport. It is about regional dominance and believe it or not, it is about bad blood between former foes, i.e. US. vs. Iran 98; Argentina vs. England (The Falkland War)86, 98, 02; Portugal vs. Angola (war of independence) 02;
You have far too much to learn. It is not a sport, it’s a passion.
Rocky why would you comment on a game you don’t understand?
Soccer, like any sport, can at times be boring; especially for those who do not understand what is going on. It is also a game of strategy. I learned to enjoy baseball and my Brazilian friends can’t believe that anyone would ever want to watch baseball. I like Opera too… and slow movies… and long documentaries… and Indiana Jones too… You have to learn the sports before you can make an intelligent comment.
Rocky your ignorant, the NFL is boring beyond belief and being Canadian i can say the same for hockey..you just dont understand the game..our sport does not need instant replay, thats for sports like the NFL that need commerical time.. go back to baseball or some other ignorant american sport you watch ie basketball its not boring is it??
Duncan “your” stupid; I’m actually a soccer fan and it is one of my favorite sports, but NFL football is great as well. You are Canadian and no one cares what you think, at least we qualified and are good in sports besides ice hockey, even there we nearly beat you (and did in the world juniors)
So Saturday got 15 million viewers, give or take? IIRC, a Brett Favre game on ESPN got 19 million, last season. While the Superbowl pulls 100 million. If the games are averaging 2.8 million viewers, with the US out it seems that’s what will happen for the rest of it.
Americans don’t care about soccer. They never have, they never will. Mexicans love it, but they watch in Spanish in Univision, with the coverage they loved as kids in Mexico. Why not?
It would be nice to see some skepticism about ESPN press releases instead of just re-typing them into a post. I just don’t see a future for soccer. English language audiences (where the money is) don’t like it in the US. Spanish language have … Univision. ESPN Desporto being an inferior (from what I’ve been told) copy. Like listening to El Cucuy impersonate Vin Scully calling the Dodgers through babelfish.
Whiskey, just so you know, soccer is the most popular recreational sport for both boys and girls in the United Sates and has been for the past 30 years. To say that is not indicative of future growth as a spectator sport is idiotic. Obviously, they care about it. Especially the youth and future generation of Americans. So long after you and Brett Favre are dead, Americans will finally be able to join the rest of the nations in watching the most popular sport in the world.
Almost no one plays Football (the real American kind) and yet it has remained as the most popular and lucrative spectator sport inside America and the world since the 1960′s.
It is quite true that unathletic, uncoordinated, middle/upper class White kids play soccer. Blacks are uninterested in it — in the US anyway. For kids not good enough, big enough, strong enough, fast enough, and skilled enough, as well as tall enough, for Football, Basketball, or Baseball, Soccer is a relatively gentle, uncompetitive sport that gets kids healthy exercise without much competition.
Its been that way for about fifty years or so, and for that time Soccer has remained “the sport of the future that never arrives.”
America is not any different than India, or China, or Japan, being relatively uninterested in a blender-like “Global culture” that takes bastardized bits of soccer here, hooliganism there, and some vague sense that Europeans are superior. India prefers their own quick version of Cricket. Japanese, Sumo. China, Badmitten. America, Football, Baseball, and Basketball.
Americans don’t like watching soccer, or playing football. Yet football (the real American kind) is the perfect spectator sport, with the NFL netting $6 billion in TV rights every year while the FIFA body nets $4 billion every four.
Soccer in Europe and elsewhere is standing room only, riots ahoy, racist stuff shouted at Black players (routinely mocked with “monkey noises” in Italy, Greece, Spain, France, Germany, and Sweden). While “anti-racism” laws remain theoretically stringent and enforced not at all. Soccer games are riskier and more hooligan-ridden than a Raiders game.
Moreover, Brett Favre, the Mannings, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady are advertiser favorites, pushing everything from TV to MasterCard. Landon Donovan, the best known US Soccer player, lacks a single commercial.
“Almost no one plays Football (the real American kind) and yet it has remained as the most popular and lucrative spectator sport inside America and the world since the 1960’s.”
So you’re saying it wasn’t always a dominant sport? Which means it had it’s own growth phase that parallels what could easily be happening with soccer now.
“Soccer is a relatively gentle, uncompetitive sport that gets kids healthy exercise without much competition.”
As opposed to Baseball, which is a gentle sport that doesn’t even get kids much exercise. PS – That sports not really attracting the “blacks” anymore either…
“Its been that way for about fifty years or so”
No it hasn’t, soccer wasn’t even available at most high schools until the 1980′s. Kind of hard to develop good players if they don’t have have the opportunity.
“America is not any different than India, or China, or Japan, being relatively uninterested”
They also have a quickly growing soccer support themselves. The Indian professional league is even younger than the MLS.
“Americans don’t like watching soccer”
Except that World Cup viewership is growing at 60%, so that seems to be changing, just takes times.
“NFL netting $6 billion in TV rights every year while the FIFA body nets $4 billion every four.”
What about comparing the TV rights for the professional soccer leagues? That would be a more accurate comparison. The English League is about $1 on its own.
“Soccer in Europe and elsewhere is standing room only, riots ahoy, racist stuff shouted at Black players (routinely mocked with “monkey noises” in Italy, Greece, Spain, France, Germany, and Sweden).”
First, standing room only has been outlawed in many countries from awhile now. Secondly, who cares if their are racists in europe? How does that affect soccer culture in the US? The MLS has been around for 15 years, and the worst story I’ve heard was one fan yelling a racist remark, and him getting thrown out. Also, fans of other sports in the US never riot after a major playoff win or loss…oh, wait…they do quite often.
“Moreover, Brett Favre, the Mannings, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady are advertiser favorites, pushing everything from TV to MasterCard. Landon Donovan, the best known US Soccer player, lacks a single commercial.”
So you’re argument on why soccer will never be as a mainstream US sport is that it isn’t already. How many national advertisers did Sammy Baugh have in his prime, about as many as Donovan does now I would guess.
Why do you continue to prove that you are filled with nothing whatsoever but hot air? Do you realize how embarrassing your posts are? Are you some sort of sadist baffooning yourself on purpose? Seriously…?
American Football is not the most lucrative sport in the world.
You are beyond ignorant. It’s pointless to try and have a rational discussion with you.
“So Saturday got 15 million viewers, give or take? IIRC, a Brett Favre game on ESPN got 19 million, last season. While the Superbowl pulls 100 million. If the games are averaging 2.8 million viewers, with the US out it seems that’s what will happen for the rest of it.”
Why does it matter what ratings a Brett Favre game gets? I’m pretty sure ratings will be higher than 2.8 as the games go on, since ratings for non-US games rose in 2006 as the games became more important. Also, these games are mostly being played at 10am and 2:30pm on weekdays, so a 2.8 doesn’t seem that bad.
“Americans don’t care about soccer. They never have, they never will.”
I could have made that same statement about basketball or football 60 years ago. Tastes change, and 60% growth in viewership are a strong indicator of that. Imagine what they’ll be in Brazil 2014, when the time zones are closer to US.
whiskey, let me start by reiterating: you’re half the reason I wake up in the morning.
That said, let’s talk numbers. US soccer game? 15 mil. Super Bowl? 100 mil. World Cup Final? 1+ billion. World Cup Final? 5% of the population of the world that’s ever lived. Hahaha I love your posts!
14.9 viewers on ABC and 4.5 million on Univision.
>>>So Saturday got 15 million viewers, give or take? IIRC, a Brett Favre game on ESPN got 19 million, last season.
Glad to see good ratings here, in spite of ABC’s coverage being woefully shallow and sophomoric. Guest commentator Klinsmann is great, however. Hey Rocky, the world loses no sleep over the U.S.’s self satisfied comparisons of soccer to the NFL. Check out the ratings of the World Cup final vs any Super Bowl.
Soccer is unwatchable. First of all lets start with american football. How does a 60 minute game take 4 hours to play out and leave the athlete brain damaged for the rest of their lives.
I respect the fact that there is much I don’t know about soccer. I don’t watch it regularly. I wouldn’t consider myself a fan. I tune in when there is something big happening, like the world cup. I go to Galaxy games because it’s entertaining in person and my wife likes to look at Beckham.
So….call me an ignorant American if you want. But seriously: how in the world do you not have instant replay, or at the very least a coaches’ challenge in Soccer?? On a stage as big as the World Cup, no less?! You can talk about the flow of the game, and this and that and the other, but take a look at today’s games: England is robbed of a clear goal and the flow of the game is destroyed for them. Mexico goes down early because an obvious off-sides goes uncalled. Say what you want about not needing technology, but these games have no integrity.
As for soccer ever becoming big in the US, the problem is and has always been TV. If you want to be big in America, you need TV to do it. If you want to have TV coverage, you need to sell advertisements. If you want to sell ads, you need commercial breaks. And soccer doesn’t have it. So, no tv. No big sport in America. And frankly, no big loss.
Radio Canada and CBC are providing excellent TV coverage of the World Game matches from South Africa. There are no commercial interruptions during the halves–i.e. for 45 plus minutes. As a result, the flow of the game is not interrupted. There are commercials at half time and before the beginning and after the end of the game.
Unfortunately the private commercial TV networks in Canada did not do as well for the winter Olymplics when the flow of events was interrupted constantly by advertising and endless “human interest” stories. These presentations were as well narrowly partisan (worse than the American channels).
Duncan- have to say, I’ve played soccer for 40 years- these last few games made me say that there needs to be some sort of replay, especially today’s Mexico- Argentina game… Argentinas first goal was at least 6 ft offside. The ref signaled goal, then went to confer with the line judge, which should have been done prior to signaling goal, but that blatant missed call during tournament play, clearly took the wind out of Mexicos sail. The game should not continue without some guideline for missed calls resulting in a goal.
the only person in the game who doesn’t want goal line technology or action replay is the president of FIFA. He says it would ruin the game. Of course some think the horrendously bad decisions (And the enevitable backlash against them) are whats actually bad for the game . Agree with you about there not being enough ads in the game for the american broadcasters though
Football (the real American kind) is popular in the US because it combines over-arching strategy with play-by-play tactics, making it perfect for gameplay (Madden NFL is one of the most popular EA sports franchises) and TV viewing.
Take away something from one area to overload on the defense or offense, and your team is vulnerable to a big play. One that can break the game open. Viewers / Spectators can always guess, sometimes everyone can see it coming, along with the players, and it still succeeds. Sometimes the play develops into something wild. A game can be over, the victory salted away, and a furious finish can win it all for the would-be losing team. There is enough break in the action to allow viewers to reset and figure out what the offense and defense will do. The game requires both team work, and specialization. Speedy, game-breaking receivers. Others, playing a possession game. Tight ends making brutal catches over the middle, cagey linebackers and safeties covering a lot of ground, linemen acting like medieval pikeman, moving in unison. QBs having to make split-second decisions.
Its the drama that makes the game. Does Soccer have drama? Sure. But its European or South American drama, that makes little sense to Americans. It does not have and never will, have the deep connection to history, tradition, or culture that Football has. Any more for that matter that NFL football would have in England or Germany (NFL Europe has been a flop).
NFL Europe and US Soccer: dual flops putting the lie to a global, homogeneous culture. All for the good I say. Every place should not be the same. Let Europe be Europe, and America be America.
If every sport American’s liked was exactly like football, then you may be on to something. The problem is that’s not true. Football, baseball, and basketball all have differing characteristics that appeal to different people. Those people even have the ability to like multiple sports, even if they are different in many ways. To say that someone can’t like to watch both football and soccer is silly.
I used to love baseball when I was in high school/college, since it was the perfect sport to watch while doing homework, since I only had to watch a couple seconds a minute (find it nauseatingly boring now) . I used to play football and still love to watch it on TV, but rarely watch much more than my favorite team play. I love to watch soccer (MLS and otherwise) and college basketball in person, since the crowds really get into it, there are shorter breaks in the action, and they’re both over in 2 hours.
Each of those are completely different, but I enjoy them all. Other people are feeling that way about soccer as they become exposed to it. The MLS already outdraws many more mature European leagues in terms of attendance, with Seattle selling 30,000 tix a game. That’s even with the quality of play being suspect at times, but things are improving. The MLS could do something silly like shell out millions to fill out rosters with better players/names, but growing ahead of revenues is what killed the NASL back in the day, so they’ll stick to the slow steady pace their doing now.
Now we can stop pretending that the US actually cares about soccer. Many of the US “fans” were only watching because of shallow patriotism, not for the love of the sport. Many probably didn’t understand the nuances of the game anyway.
The real test is how many will continue to watch now that the US is out of the tournament. Probably about the same number that watch MLS soccer when it is broadcast (i.e., not very many). The US will never be as enamored with soccer (football, futbol) as the rest of the world is.
That’s it in a nutshell, really. I mean, come on, the article says right up front that it was a spike in viewership for the US games in particular: that’s not viewers who are fans of the sport, that’s viewers who are tuning in to root for their country’s team. If as many as 10% of them stuck around to watch the final game or could even tell you a month from now who won the World Cup, I’d be shocked.
Will soccer/futbol/”real football” ever catch on in the US? Probably not. I mean, dare to dream and all, but there are so many obstacles — from public perception to broadcast considerations to just plain consumer taste — that it’s a total sucker bet.
And honestly, we’re probably all better off if it never happens. If soccer does catch on, it’ll be a billion-dollar industry like the NBA and the NFL, and instead of getting whining commentary about how the US doesn’t like soccer, we’ll be hearing whining commentary about how US soccer is too slick, too commercial, and doesn’t have any heart. Major cities will tax their residents to build fancy new soccer stadiums at no cost to league owners who will then sell out and move to another city five years later, the media will have an endless parade of drug and sex scandals to report on, and every six months someone will ask “Why do we pay these jerks millions of dollars a year to play a game?”
Who needs the grief? Let soccer stay a fringe sport in the US, where its fans can feel hip and indie about liking it and the rest of the nation doesn’t have to be bothered.
Spot on. Most of the growth is shallow patriotism but there’s also a bit of a bandwagon effect. After the US team’s run to the finals in the 2009 Confederations Cup, all of the hype was about how the US had a great team that had a legitimate chance of winning the World Cup.
It’s just like the Boston resident who never cared about basketball, until the Celtics traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. The same thing happened in this year’s World Cup. The true test of soccer’s growth will come in the next World Cup, if the US doesn’t have as good a team going in. I’d bet viewership drops.
Don’t forget, the US Hockey team’s ratings were phenomenal for this year’s Olympics gold medal game. Was it because there are so many hockey fans in the US? NHL ratings say otherwise. Instead, a bunch of bandwagoners just wanted to yell “USA! USA!” and be associated with a team that suddenly had a chance to do something great.
This is irrelevant, merely a side effect. I’m from the Netherlands and over here 11.2 million people watched Netherlands – Brazil friday, on a population of 16 million. The World Cup has a huge draw. Women watch just as much as men. Basicly everybody watches. That doesn’t mean all these people love the game to death or know all the nuances of the game, as you say many Americans don’t. Many tune in every 2 years (we have Euro champs too) and only for the big games. The whole country goes crazy. A big leap in ratings for a tournament like this is only normal, due to the effect of patriottism in tournaments like this. But that doesn’t make it meaningless. The more people that get exposed, the more the sport will catch on. There’s no way back.
We should be proud we have a domestic sport that’s wildly successful in the NFL. That’s pretty cool, and I don’t think we should be made to feel like we need to buy in to some European idea of what a “civilized” or “global” sport Futbol is. It’s like liberal guilt inflicted from some expat trustafarian backpacker who thinks they’re so enlightened- which kind of sums up these soccer fans- you won’t find them rooting for any NFL or NBA team in your local sports bars- ‘cuz they don’t actually watch sports.
Merits of either aside, we have something we like, it’s awesome entertainment, and nobody else gets it. I’m fine with that.
Well, as someone said, football (which you people call it soccer) is not just about goals..
-its about the build up to goal/attempted goal..thats why we are entertained for the entire 90 minutes of play
-its about getting one over your political or sporting rivals: , Argentina v England (Falkan War), Portugal v Angola (Angola’s Independence), England v Germany (the World Wars),US v Iran (well, you already know),Yoguslavia v Russia…the list is endless..it shows you dont have to pull out a sword to prove your superiority over your rival..and if you are a world cup fan, you feel the loss to your rival piercing through your heart like a thorn..cos his bragging right is for at least another 4 years!!
Now, tell me, will there ever be a chance in baseball or american football where the US plays Iran? where England plays Argentina? nope..cos there is only one truly global sport that exudes passion in both rich or poor..slave or free all over the world! Football..tribute to greats like Pele, Eusebio, Maradona, George Best and all the greats who have graced this beautiful game..its our game, our passion..hate it or love it.
I’m a fan of sports in general, and have had a great time watching the World Cup (as have my kids). The problem really isn’t the sport itself, the technical skills of the individual players are great.
The problem with the sport is FIFA, and the players who try to get red/yellow cards against the opposition by diving, and faking injury.
Why Americans will never embrace this game as they do other sports is personified in the end of the Ghana/US game, when Ghana players were falling all over the field wasting time…the solution would be that if a player goes off on a stretcher that player (unless subbed for) needs to sit out for 5 minutes.
Also, FIFAs response to all of the awful officiating, and just the smell of corruption is another thing keeping the sport from taking off. Other than the NBA I can’t think of another sport where the officials have dictated the outcome is so many games.
FIFA needs to embrace replay, hold the officials accountable for their awful calls, and stop rewarding diving and delay of games on the individual players. It’s pretty simple, you don’t change any of the rules of the game, or the non-stop clock…but you clean up the idea of corruption, and make goals legit or non-legit.
There should never again be what we saw in the US 1st round match, the Argentina match, the Englad match, of games swinging on terrible calls by refs.
I read most of the comments and I don’t get this debate between soccer and football fans.
I live in the US in the last 4 years. In my home country soccer is #1, basketball #2, and everything else is pretty far behind. American football and Baseball do not exist.
Comparing between football and soccer do not make much sense. It’s very subjective and eventually it all depends where you grow up. If I was born in India I would have been a huge cricket fan, I’m sure; but I wasn’t, and circket is a game I will never watch.
But the main thing that for me makes soccer superior over football was mentioned already. Soccer is a game that anybody can play, on any surface, with nothing but a ball. Believe it or not, you don’t need more than two people to play it. Since I remember myself I play soccer, and I hope to continue playing at least till I’m 50. And everybody loves to play soccer, it’s fun and the best exercise you can get. I like to watch soccer on TV and then apply the moves I saw while playing. That’s the beauty of it.
Sometimes I see kids play football here in Chicago. It’s always like one kid is running, one kid is running after him, and the rest just watch. You cannot really play it unless it’s well organized.
But I like soccer as it is today. I prefer it staying small for a 2 reasons:
1. Tickets are cheap – you can go with your family to a soccer match without taking a mortgage. Football is for the rich.
2. If soccer becomes very popular everybody in the streets will play it. From my experience, the street people in the US do not understand that a team sport is not an individual sport. I stopped playing basketball in the US because I felt stupid playing with people who never pass the damn ball. Everybody thinks he is the next Kobe.
For the national team to be better you need soccer to be played in the streets, like basketball. It’s not something I wish to happen as I just mentioned, but it’s usually where talent grows. Especially if many African American starts playing it.
Soccer has the potential to become #2 in the US but never #1. It will for sure be bigger than basketball one day, don’t know what about baseball. But football will always stay #1. And for the rest of the world, soccer is:
1. #1 in Europe.
2. #1 the middle east.
3. #1 in south america.
4. #1 in the China. Yes, people do not know it because China has many sports that they are more known for (like ping pong), but soccer is the most watched sports. And that’s what chinese people told me.
5. #1 in south korea and japan. Yes, somebody mentioned that japan has sumo. That’s right, but soccer is way more watched an popular. IN fact, these countries have good leagues and great national teams.
6. #2 in India. Circket is #1, but many people in India watch soccer as well.
Forgot to mention:
7. Soccer is #1 in Africa of course.
8. In Australia and New Zealand I’m not sure. Soccer is probably pretty low in the list, similar to the US.
9. #1 in central America.
US v Ghana had more viewers than the World Series. This debate is over. Americans love soccer. Not every American but enough to have a successful league that competes with NHL and NBA in attendance and ratings.
45,000 American soccer Fans will go to Brazil World Cup 2014.
I bet it ! . Greetings from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico