Uncle Si
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DomeHawk":dn79yfjm said:Uncle Si":dn79yfjm said:DomeHawk":dn79yfjm said:Well thank you for not taking it personal, it's almost impossible to get that around here. Of course I am being at least partially facetious (my last post) but....
Uncle Si":dn79yfjm said:I'm not a Sounders fan. I just know their popularity is big and growing. Average attendance for 4 home games over 20 is a frail line to cling to.
I don't know what you are referring to here.
Uncle Si":dn79yfjm said:getting an understanding for those that watch is it important. For example, 212 million watched a premier league soccer match hours before 105 million worldwide watched the super bowl. A league match, one of over 50 games the participants played that year, drew double the viewers of the super bowls worldwide audience.
Again, this is just more of the "it's the biggest sport in the world" thing we have to hear over-and-over-again. I know I am speaking for other people but WE DON"T CARE.
Uncle Si":dn79yfjm said:700 million watched the world cup final. They weren't all hipsters.
Can't speak for other nation's fans but the American soccer fans I have seen are anything but "hipsters." I see a lot of techies going to the game and someone's comment about new transplants probably applies better here. The bigger question for me would be how many Americans watched it compared to the Super Bowl.
Uncle Si":dn79yfjm said:It's growing fast. And whether you believe it's merely a participation sport or not makes little difference in the shear volume of people who play it and spend money to watch it here in the US and particularly on the west coast.
I get that it's growing but it will always have a limited audience in America, we just aren't wired for the game.
Uncle Si":dn79yfjm said:It won't catch the NFL. But in cities like Seattle it will push other sports.
Nobody in "other" sport's care and that isn't a statement of superiority, it's a statement of ambivalence. It will never reach the status of mainstream American sport's because it will never (or at least for a very long time) attract really elite American athletes. I have a good friend who is a big soccer fan and I tried and tried to appreciate the sport watching matches with him, I just couldn't get there (thank god there was alcohol involved). I admittedly don't have enough exposure to appreciate the nuances, but I think it really is not a very good spectator sport for Americans. Funny thing is, when we watched the European premier soccer teams the difference was startling, they are NOTICEABLY better. Still not enough so that I can maintain interest.
Uncle Si":dn79yfjm said:My dream scenario is similar to yours.
Cool.
You may not be wired for it, but i'd suggest with rising interest in the sport, and particularly the much, much better English, German and Spanish leagues that are now available on major networks and easily streamed they are becoming a viable challenge to all sports except the NFL
The audience isn't limited by anything but product, as you noticed. 110,000 went to watch two English teams play an exhibition with most of their best players on leave at the Big House in Michigan. id say a very small percentage were english ex pats from Manchester or Liverpool.
Those were American soccer fans primarly located in the upper midwest alone. That's the draw.
Okay whatever, I get it, you have soccer disease.
Did you see the Dr Pepper commercial in the Auburn LSU game?
I mean i'm a little biased as a former D1 soccer player and current academy and high school coach.
by far, for me, the best spectator driven sport there is. But that's a different story.