Ann Coulter Is Right to Fear the World Cup

[OttoVonBismarck]

I don't think you've really got a good argument there CC. I think Americans don't like soccer because they don't like soccer. We like basketball and it has continuity of action, and hockey has always had some level of support in parts of the country and also has continuity of action.

Soccer is really no more/less suited for TV than basketball or hockey.

Football is very well suited for TV because there are natural breaks in it, and TV watchers as a rule like to get up and leave their living rooms periodically. Even if you're watching something without commercial breaks, how many people will stare at the screen non-stop for the entire thing? I mean I'm sure some do, sometime, but people like breaks.

Baseball is a sport that is/was well suited for radio, the way the action unfolds it's a great sport to listen to when you're doing something else. Likewise it's great to go see in person, because then it becomes a social activity, you can get some beers, talk with friends etc while the game is going on. But as a TV sport baseball is hard to watch because the breaks between the meaningful moments are long and terrible. When you're at a ballpark that doesn't bother you, but at home you just get bored.

I think most Americans don't follow soccer for the same reason I don't, I already follow(ed) several sports by the time soccer was even on the radar in terms of TV time here, and just don't have an interest in following more. I'm sure there are many worthy sports, but how many can one person follow and still have any interests outside of sport? And with that limitation people are much more likely to just follow what they grew up with.

[crazy canuck]

Like I said in the first post, the leagues and treatment TV gives it has convinced people this slow paced game is not that bad and so fast paced games that are in direct competition - ie rubgy have no chance in the US market.  People have grown accustomed to the slow pace and it fits the lifestyle that has grown up around the game.

If fast paced automatically made things better than the most popular sport would be the 100 meter dash.  And further your premise is obviously incorrect since rugby was around and lost to those other sports long before TV or any leagues were around. 

Though I guess, to be fair, I have no idea what you mean by direct competition.  What sport is Rugby in direct competition with in the US that it is not in the other 150+ countries it has not caught on?

You are confusing the speed of one play with the pace of play. But granted, a football fan would necessarily have to ignore the concept of pace of play to still enjoy the sport.

[crazy canuck]

I don't think you've really got a good argument there CC. I think Americans don't like soccer because they don't like soccer. We like basketball and it has continuity of action, and hockey has always had some level of support in parts of the country and also has continuity of action.

Thats not my argument 

I have no idea why Americans prefer football to soccer.  It is a genuine mystery to me.  Valmy is the one who made the point that Football is perfect for TV. 

[OttoVonBismarck]

Isn't CFL more popular in Canada than soccer? I at least know hockey is. I imagine to a Brazilian they'd ask why a Canuck prefers hockey to soccer.

I don't really think there is much mystery to any of this stuff, I think people like the sports they grow up with. I don't really think it's any more complex than that. The only question is what lead people to grow up with certain sports, and in most countries that goes back to the 19th century and the history is what it is. For football I think it's as simple as the big colleges in America really embraced it, and they had/have outsize influence because they were where all the rich important people went to school back t hen (with American football heavily linked to the Ivy League in its early days.)

[Syt]

As much as I like American Football, I find broadcasts often painful to watch. What's nominally a 1 hour game will often be a 3 hour broadcast, with a probably a third or more of it being commercials, and only a fraction of the time actual plays. More than with other team sports I find myself doing something else while leaving an NFL game mostly on in the background, occasionally turning my head to the screen when a play is about to commence.

[garbon]

I don't really think there is much mystery to any of this stuff, I think people like the sports they grow up with. I don't really think it's any more complex than that.

Maybe but you would think with the amount of people who play youth soccer there would be some interest in the sport later in life. But perhaps like you said it is a "watching" sort of thing so that while people play youth soccer, they don't generally watch it.

[crazy canuck]

Isn't CFL more popular in Canada than soccer?

Hard to say, the CFL isnt that popular here despite what BB thinks/hopes.  Most people prefer the NFL.   At least in the major markets.  Relative popularity is hard to measure in part because North American soccer leagues have not been run very well and Euro league games are at odd hours but there are a lot more Canadians watching the world cup than ever watch a CFL game on TV.  Also soccer is the most popular sport in Canada as measured by participation by a long way.

[Valmy]

Valmy is the one who made the point that Football is perfect for TV. 

I never said that.  Ever.  I think that was Yi.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Yeah, for a sport to be big on TV people have to want to watch it. For the big American sports--football, baseball, and basketball (to a degree hockey), before TV people were watching these sports live. When TV came, it exposed more people to games and probably helped with live attendance to some degree as well. Baseball still has strong live attendance numbers but has lost the TV battle to football. Basketball has good live attendance numbers but so-so ratings, often like baseball it picks up a lot at the end of the season.

There are a lot of sports people have always participated in here that have never been big on TV or in terms of live attendance: softball, bowling (lol), amateur wrestling, various track and field events (which are ignored outside of the Olympics every 4 years) etc.

When you grow up with the Big 3 on TV--and for any American born since the 1960s this has been the case, it's just not that likely you'll want to invest time in learning a whole new sport and caring about it. Especially not when the United States is not a good place for that sport, because it means all the local teams will have subpar talent. If you watch NBA or MLB you see the best players not just in America, but all over the world. Because any European or Asian or Latin American (for MLB) players worth a damn in those sports come to America. In Soccer it's the exact opposite, the few American players who are any good go play for second-rate European clubs (maybe a few for good ones), very few are interested in staying to play for MLS teams.

[crazy canuck]

Valmy is the one who made the point that Football is perfect for TV. 

I never said that.  Ever.  I think that was Yi.

You are right it was Yi.

But are you denying Yi is correct    One wonders why you would be so emaphatic that you never said that - Ever. 

[Valmy]

Relative popularity is hard to measure in part because North American soccer leagues have not been run very well

I beg to disagree.  The MLS has done better than anybody back in 1994 could have dreamed.  Creating an audience from nothing takes awhile.  Their minor league clubs do a great job getting local players involved and gaining support.  I think our soccer leagues are very well run IMO.

Also soccer is the most popular sport in Canada as measured by participation by a long way.

And you guys are still so painfully horrible that tiny Euro colonies beat you?  Canada you should be ashamed.

[FunkMonk]

I don't really think there is much mystery to any of this stuff, I think people like the sports they grow up with. I don't really think it's any more complex than that.

Maybe but you would think with the amount of people who play youth soccer there would be some interest in the sport later in life. But perhaps like you said it is a "watching" sort of thing so that while people play youth soccer, they don't generally watch it.

Eh, the number of Americans watching soccer now compared to the number of Americans watching soccer 30 years ago is a huge difference. The audience is growing and while it will never overtake football it will find itself a solid niche in the coming decades.

It's still astonishing to me that NBC shows every single English Premier League game live on tv and streaming for free. The amount of soccer content available now is light years ahead of where it was just ten years ago and the ten year olds playing baby soccer on the weekends today will grow up having access to the game that I never had. That access means something and will contribute to the popularity of the sport in the coming decades.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Hard to say, the CFL isnt that popular here despite what BB thinks/hopes.  Most people prefer the NFL.   At least in the major markets.  Relative popularity is hard to measure in part because North American soccer leagues have not been run very well and Euro league games are at odd hours but there are a lot more Canadians watching the world cup than ever watch a CFL game on TV.  Also soccer is the most popular sport in Canada as measured by participation by a long way.

Are we talking about sports Americans watch or that they play? Because football is not by any means the most played sport in America. I'd assume in Canada the most watched sport would be hockey, but it doesn't surprise me it isn't the most played. For similar reasons to why football is the most watched but not the most played--equipment is expensive, injuries scare parents etc.

Actually this makes me pretty sure hockey is the most popular watched sport in Canada, noticing how high the draft's ratings are to actual world cup soccer matches. And looking back, the ratings for the Canadian hockey team when they were playing in the most recent olympics dwarf the world cup ratings--over half of Canadian households watched Canada play hockey in the Olympics. I don't think any Olympic event has ever gotten that level of rating in America.

[garbon]

Eh, the number of Americans watching soccer now compared to the number of Americans watching soccer 30 years ago is a huge difference.

The number of Americans now compared to the number of Americans 30 years ago is also a huge difference.

[Valmy]

Eh, the number of Americans watching soccer now compared to the number of Americans watching soccer 30 years ago is a huge difference.

The number of Americans now compared to the number of Americans 30 years ago is also a huge difference.

There are enough Americans watching soccer now to get coverage in mainstream sports media.  That means it has arrived in my book.