Soccer is the most popular sport worldwide. It is followed by 3.5 billion fans, beating second place cricket by one billion in the fan count. It is popular on literally every continent, but there is one country in the world where it cannot even hope to compete with the most recognized sports – the United States of America.
It Is Not the Lack of Exposure
Finding the reasons for soccer’s relative unpopularity within the U.S. is a multi-faceted problem, but one thing is sure, it is not the result of its lack of exposure. That may have been true one or two decades ago, but it definitely isn’t right now. The biggest teams are able to work with large budgets, being able to bring elite talent from Europe every year, and not just 35+ year old stars but some of the very best players, often still close to their prime. Steven Gerrard, who left Liverpool at the age of 34 after a season where he was still the team’s best player, is probably the best example.
Tradition and Negative Bias
The reasons why soccer is still not very popular in the United States are twofold. First, the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL take a lot of the limelight away. Americans are interested in their major sports above anything. The other problem is the talent level. While it’s improving, the vast majority of world class players are still in Europe. The first will likely never change, but soccer as a product can certainly improve. Many soccer fans, such as Dr. Thomas Taylor, hope that this is exactly what will happen.
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-lees/soccers-low-popularity-in_b_10559190.html
Dr Thomas Taylor 