Interestingly I've started seeing LAX really grow as a "youth sport" lately, but soccer has been quietly gaining momentum for years in US; and is probably the sport of choice for girls.

I've coached and worked with youth sports for over 10 years and have seen several players switch to soccer as their off season sport, or go exclusively to soccer.

Is there any thought that longer range NCAA conference growth factors in sports like soccer and LAX?

It would seem easier to grow demand for currently little covered sports rather than add the "15th" football or basketball game to the tv schedule.

Do you mean on TV? Soccer gets a lot of airtime on the conference networks. Not so much on ESPN. I think the only college soccer they broadcast is the College Cup (final four) for men's and women's soccer.

Might be difficult to get ESPN or Fox to televise more college soccer because (at least for those of us with a zillion TV channels) there is already so much soccer on TV -- MLS, EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, national team tournaments -- that I doubt even the most diehard fan could watch it all.

As long as soccer is played during the fall, it will be second fiddle to the "tedious travesty of rugby league" that is American football. It might make good mid-week filler, but with the NFL, NCAA, and High School football taking up more and more airtime, it will be tough to find a spot on TV.

Only if football gets outlawed (entirely possible). And even then, I don't see people planning barbecues and tailgates over the Georgia women's team against Florida. Only if the US is so overrun by soccer mad immigrants will it change and even then, most immigrants have adapted the sports culture more or less.

(07-12-2015 09:51 AM)Strut Wrote:  Interestingly I've started seeing LAX really grow as a "youth sport" lately, but soccer has been quietly gaining momentum for years in US; and is probably the sport of choice for girls.

I've coached and worked with youth sports for over 10 years and have seen several players switch to soccer as their off season sport, or go exclusively to soccer.

Is there any thought that longer range NCAA conference growth factors in sports like soccer and LAX?

It would seem easier to grow demand for currently little covered sports rather than add the "15th" football or basketball game to the tv schedule.

They aren't revenue sports.... i.e. their ticket sales for attendance nor their tv revenue generate enough money to pay for their operations. There isn't enough demand in the marketplace for those sports to major factors in tv coverage or revenue streams for schools.

Men's Soccer? Nope it will contract further with FCOA.

Actually all the head trauma drama with football is having a bigger affect on increasing the popularity of soccer in our schools than any World Cup Win ever will. I am not trying to downplay the positive affect of the World Cup Win but fear has a much longer affect than joy.

Funny they must be ignoring the data on soccer head trauma. People that want to avoid head trauma should not play soccer.

(07-14-2015 12:33 AM)Sultan of Euphonistan Wrote:  Funny they must be ignoring the data on soccer head trauma. People that want to avoid head trauma should not play soccer.

They follow the media, they don't do their own research. You would think mothers would research in an age when researching is so easy but...they see football as overall more dangerous I suppose.

It will spur participation by women but more tv time is doubtful. Until they find a way to get the scoring up, soccer will be a tough sell for fans

Soccer has become a very popular sport among youth in the Mid-Atlantic area. There are soccer parks they contain 3-4 soccer fields, and the fields are always packed with kids and families. I read that UMD College Park has plans in place to increase the capacity of its soccer stadium by 50% to 12,000. How many P5 schools have basketball arenas that seat 12,000?

The women won the Soccer Gold medal in 1996 in Atlanta.
Mia Hamm, Brittany Chastain, etc were household names for a while. Everyone celebrated and then crickets.
So no I don't think winning the 2015 Women's World Cup win will have any lasting affect.
If the Men's team could pull it off it would have a stronger affect.

The US youth soccer program is popular but with all of the choices kids have in the US soccer will never grow beyond being #5 or 5 in popularity...which is why the US men's team will never win a World Cup. It's not a serious part of America's athletic DNA like it is in Europe, South America, etc.

(07-14-2015 10:29 AM)mptnstr@44 Wrote:  The women won the Soccer Gold medal in 1996 in Atlanta.
Mia Hamm, Brittany Chastain, etc were household names for a while. Everyone celebrated and then crickets.
So no I don't think winning the 2015 Women's World Cup win will have any lasting affect.
If the Men's team could pull it off it would have a stronger affect.

The US youth soccer program is popular but with all of the choices kids have in the US soccer will never grow beyond being #5 or 5 in popularity...which is why the US men's team will never win a World Cup. It's not a serious part of America's athletic DNA like it is in Europe, South America, etc.

One effect was that the little girls that watched Hamm, Chastain etc in 1996 and 1999 are the women that won the World Cup now.

And soccer has grown - and those people are now getting into the working world, and soon will hit the sweet spot were they have disposable income.



That being said, soccer, like hockey, isn't a great TV sport. Football is the perfect sport for American TV - set action, followed by dead time that you can socialize and not miss any action.

(07-14-2015 09:14 AM)NJ2MDTerp Wrote:  Soccer has become a very popular sport among youth in the Mid-Atlantic area. There are soccer parks they contain 3-4 soccer fields, and the fields are always packed with kids and families. I read that UMD College Park has plans in place to increase the capacity of its soccer stadium by 50% to 12,000. How many P5 schools have basketball arenas that seat 12,000?

It would not surprise me if soccer passes basketball as the most-watched college women's sport. My kids play both, and there must be 5x or 10x as many tween girls playing soccer.

(07-14-2015 11:19 AM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(07-14-2015 10:29 AM)mptnstr@44 Wrote:  The women won the Soccer Gold medal in 1996 in Atlanta.
Mia Hamm, Brittany Chastain, etc were household names for a while. Everyone celebrated and then crickets.
So no I don't think winning the 2015 Women's World Cup win will have any lasting affect.
If the Men's team could pull it off it would have a stronger affect.

The US youth soccer program is popular but with all of the choices kids have in the US soccer will never grow beyond being #5 or 5 in popularity...which is why the US men's team will never win a World Cup. It's not a serious part of America's athletic DNA like it is in Europe, South America, etc.

One effect was that the little girls that watched Hamm, Chastain etc in 1996 and 1999 are the women that won the World Cup now.

And soccer has grown - and those people are now getting into the working world, and soon will hit the sweet spot were they have disposable income.



That being said, soccer, like hockey, isn't a great TV sport. Football is the perfect sport for American TV - set action, followed by dead time that you can socialize and not miss any action.

The fact that you can socialize during that dead time is less important than the fact that networks can monetize it. If NCAA soccer is played in the fall, it will never get serious air time on weekends when the airwaves are filled with football. And if you only televise the weekday games, they will also be competing with other prime time programming based on their advertising potential. That's a huge handicap to overcome.

BTW, it seems to me that the women's triumph became yesterday's news even faster than that of the 1999 team's.

(07-12-2015 09:51 AM)Strut Wrote:  Interestingly I've started seeing LAX really grow as a "youth sport" lately, but soccer has been quietly gaining momentum for years in US; and is probably the sport of choice for girls.

I've coached and worked with youth sports for over 10 years and have seen several players switch to soccer as their off season sport, or go exclusively to soccer.

Is there any thought that longer range NCAA conference growth factors in sports like soccer and LAX?

It would seem easier to grow demand for currently little covered sports rather than add the "15th" football or basketball game to the tv schedule.

Both lax and soccer will continue grow rapidly, in the NCAA and in general. However, neither' growth will be fueled by a women's WC victory in any meaningful way.

My view is that it will increase the number of girls playing youth soccer, thereby increasing the number of quality players pursuing scholarships. This may lead to some additional schools adding the sport, although it's already pretty widespread.

It could lead to a more successful women's pro league, with greater fan interest and awareness.

From what I've seen of the interviews with players my guess is there will be an increase in lesbians from this popularity. Some seem more concerned with being known as "gay" than a soccer champion.

Soccer is slowly taking over the sports scene in this country. The win in the WC will do little to speed that up.

If you look at how much soccer has grown in the last 40 years in this country it's mind boggling.

No other sport has grown so much.

It will be a long time before it's number 1. I am sure I will be dead by then. But it will eventually happen. It's unstoppable.

Eventually basketball and soccer will be the two dominant sports.

I would argue that the US success in the women's game owes more to a well developed collegiate soccer system in the US than college soccer owes the World Cup. In much of the world, high level amateur athletes are the province of nationalized or privately funded academies to identify and develop players. The US model of collegiate sports is fairly rare and Title IX ensured the women got a much larger piece of the pie than they would have otherwise. It's no coincidence that many of top players from the other World Cup teams were either current or former collegiate players in the US.