(06-11-2014 04:14 PM)Buzz Lightyear Lite Wrote:  

(06-11-2014 07:55 AM)moehler Wrote:  I've always said if I had kids, the first sport I would have them play would be soccer, easy to learn, great sport for getting the kids exercise, but as a spectator sport, I think watching "paint dry" is more exciting, now, I have tried to understand and watch soccer, I have patiently watch many an entire game, trying to give the game a chance to grow on me, but I can honestly say I have watched my last soccer match, I don't think the sport will ever appeal to me.

Son played soccer in high school and passed on a few little schools but sort of had to go and it was ok.....but just a few weeks ago my wife, step daughter and I were in the KC area going to a wedding. We stayed next to the KC Sporting stadium (neat place) and so I bought some advance tickets.....both of them knew nothing at all about soccer but the atmosphere was fantastic and both would do it again in a heart beat....both loved it and even I enjoyed it despite a 2-1 loss for KC.....If anyone has the chance to go to a MLS soccer venue I would suggest trying it out....or at least the place in KC Kansas is fabulous and in area of fantastic shopping to boot and restaurants so the wife and step daughter love that area....also next to the Kansas Speed Way..

My wife and daughter shop while my son and I are at KC games.

I've yet to attend an MLS Game, but the ones I have watched online and on Teleivison have always had excellent atmospheres.

One of the brightest moves the US Soccer Federation did was moving all the USMNT's World Cup Qualifiers to smaller MLS Specific stadiums. Its amazing that Mexico can play in a stadium of 100K screaming fans, yet struggle to even be competitive in a Columbus arena that only seats 20K. Shows how passionate US Soccer fans are. They can provide quite an atmosphere once you figure out how to make sure that your fans are the only ones at the games.

(06-11-2014 04:14 PM)Buzz Lightyear Lite Wrote:  

(06-11-2014 07:55 AM)moehler Wrote:  I've always said if I had kids, the first sport I would have them play would be soccer, easy to learn, great sport for getting the kids exercise, but as a spectator sport, I think watching "paint dry" is more exciting, now, I have tried to understand and watch soccer, I have patiently watch many an entire game, trying to give the game a chance to grow on me, but I can honestly say I have watched my last soccer match, I don't think the sport will ever appeal to me.

Son played soccer in high school and passed on a few little schools but sort of had to go and it was ok.....but just a few weeks ago my wife, step daughter and I were in the KC area going to a wedding. We stayed next to the KC Sporting stadium (neat place) and so I bought some advance tickets.....both of them knew nothing at all about soccer but the atmosphere was fantastic and both would do it again in a heart beat....both loved it and even I enjoyed it despite a 2-1 loss for KC.....If anyone has the chance to go to a MLS soccer venue I would suggest trying it out....or at least the place in KC Kansas is fabulous and in area of fantastic shopping to boot and restaurants so the wife and step daughter love that area....also next to the Kansas Speed Way..

One of my closest friends works for FC Dallas and lives a stone's throw from the stadium. I went to the game when Seattle visited and Deuce netted two goals in a 3-2 Seattle win, it was an awesome time, if Dallas was going to lose, at least it was the national team captain that did it.

I'm American. I'll go with America, no matter the odds.

But my head tells me Brazil.

(06-11-2014 04:02 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  soccer will definitely continue to grow in the US, and will be challenging for a top 5 spot in the next 10 years or so.

They've been saying that since we hosted the World Cup in 1994. It hasn't happened yet, but maybe the prediction will eventually come true.

(06-12-2014 12:14 PM)ASUMountaineer Wrote:  

(06-11-2014 04:02 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  soccer will definitely continue to grow in the US, and will be challenging for a top 5 spot in the next 10 years or so.

They've been saying that since we hosted the World Cup in 1994. It hasn't happened yet, but maybe the prediction will eventually come true.

The MLS was in it's infancy in 1994, today it's a different world, the MLS had the 16th highest average attendance worldwide among all professional sports. It also ranked. 9th world wide among soccer leagues and among domestic leagues finished third just ahead of the NBA and NHL.

I think we still have a ways to go, but I don't think the exponential growth is done. Hopefully the revote on 2022 happens and we get it, with hopefully good showings this summer and 2018, we could be ready for an explosion of popularity hosting in2022 and we have some really high upside guys(Green, Zallalem, Yedlin, Brooks) that will all be in their prime at that time.

It's an exciting time to be a soccer fan in America.

(06-12-2014 01:43 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(06-12-2014 12:14 PM)ASUMountaineer Wrote:  

(06-11-2014 04:02 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  soccer will definitely continue to grow in the US, and will be challenging for a top 5 spot in the next 10 years or so.

They've been saying that since we hosted the World Cup in 1994. It hasn't happened yet, but maybe the prediction will eventually come true.

The MLS was in it's infancy in 1994, today it's a different world, the MLS had the 16th highest average attendance worldwide among all professional sports. It also ranked. 9th world wide among soccer leagues and among domestic leagues finished third just ahead of the NBA and NHL.

I think we still have a ways to go, but I don't think the exponential growth is done. Hopefully the revote on 2022 happens and we get it, with hopefully good showings this summer and 2018, we could be ready for an explosion of popularity hosting in2022 and we have some really high upside guys(Green, Zallalem, Yedlin, Brooks) that will all be in their prime at that time.

It's an exciting time to be a soccer fan in America.

I'm not saying soccer won't become popular. It has a ways to go to get into the top 4 of professional sports in America. My only point was that people keep saying it and it hasn't come true--doesn't mean it won't.

(06-12-2014 02:16 PM)ASUMountaineer Wrote:  

(06-12-2014 01:43 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(06-12-2014 12:14 PM)ASUMountaineer Wrote:  

(06-11-2014 04:02 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  soccer will definitely continue to grow in the US, and will be challenging for a top 5 spot in the next 10 years or so.

They've been saying that since we hosted the World Cup in 1994. It hasn't happened yet, but maybe the prediction will eventually come true.

The MLS was in it's infancy in 1994, today it's a different world, the MLS had the 16th highest average attendance worldwide among all professional sports. It also ranked. 9th world wide among soccer leagues and among domestic leagues finished third just ahead of the NBA and NHL.

I think we still have a ways to go, but I don't think the exponential growth is done. Hopefully the revote on 2022 happens and we get it, with hopefully good showings this summer and 2018, we could be ready for an explosion of popularity hosting in2022 and we have some really high upside guys(Green, Zallalem, Yedlin, Brooks) that will all be in their prime at that time.

It's an exciting time to be a soccer fan in America.

I'm not saying soccer won't become popular. It has a ways to go to get into the top 4 of professional sports in America. My only point was that people keep saying it and it hasn't come true--doesn't mean it won't.

I don't know about that. Football? not going to happen, but depending on your market an MLS team could do better than Hockey, Basketball or Baseball. I suspect it could easily overtake Hockey in much of the the country without much issue as our population centers continue to shift from the Rustbelt to the South.

MLS as a league has average more than the NBA or NHL over the last couple of years

Back in the 1930's the three biggest sports in the US were baseball, boxing and horse racing so obviously tastes change over time.

I'm old enough to remember when the NBA Finals were shown on tape delay at 10:30pm Central everywhere but the markets of the two teams playing because it wasn't a big enough TV draw to interrupt prime time programming.

I remember the NHL and NBA having only 18 teams each, the NFL and MLB 26 each.

MLS didn't start play until two years after the 1994 World Cup and there were only 10 teams. There are 19 teams playing with two joining next season, Atlanta in 2017 and Miami TBD (though expectation is 2017).

After 19 years of play only 2 teams have folded and only one relocated and the relocated team was replaced after two years. That stability in and of itself is a stunning success compared to other leagues.

At Half

Brazil 1
Croatia 1

That own goal to start the World Cup was priceless.

(06-12-2014 04:10 PM)Godzilla Wrote:  That own goal to start the World Cup was priceless.

And FIFA made sure they got it back with that BS penalty kick.

(06-12-2014 04:37 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(06-12-2014 04:10 PM)Godzilla Wrote:  That own goal to start the World Cup was priceless.

And FIFA made sure they got it back with that BS penalty kick.

Yup. Cant have the host team drawing their opener can we?

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!

Brazil is probably thrilled they got that third goal. That pk was garbage

(06-12-2014 07:16 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  Brazil is probably thrilled they got that third goal. That pk was garbage

Third Goal doesn't come without the PK. Croatia would not have been frantically attacking had the score still been tied.

(06-12-2014 08:37 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(06-12-2014 07:16 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  Brazil is probably thrilled they got that third goal. That pk was garbage

Third Goal doesn't come without the PK. Croatia would not have been frantically attacking had the score still been tied.

true

I haven't read this thread...and some of you have probably seen this....but I thought it was cool.

http://elitedaily.com/sports/soccer-lege...eo/620730/

(06-12-2014 02:51 PM)chrisattsu Wrote:  

(06-12-2014 02:16 PM)ASUMountaineer Wrote:  

(06-12-2014 01:43 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(06-12-2014 12:14 PM)ASUMountaineer Wrote:  

(06-11-2014 04:02 PM)NCeagle Wrote:  soccer will definitely continue to grow in the US, and will be challenging for a top 5 spot in the next 10 years or so.

They've been saying that since we hosted the World Cup in 1994. It hasn't happened yet, but maybe the prediction will eventually come true.

The MLS was in it's infancy in 1994, today it's a different world, the MLS had the 16th highest average attendance worldwide among all professional sports. It also ranked. 9th world wide among soccer leagues and among domestic leagues finished third just ahead of the NBA and NHL.

I think we still have a ways to go, but I don't think the exponential growth is done. Hopefully the revote on 2022 happens and we get it, with hopefully good showings this summer and 2018, we could be ready for an explosion of popularity hosting in2022 and we have some really high upside guys(Green, Zallalem, Yedlin, Brooks) that will all be in their prime at that time.

It's an exciting time to be a soccer fan in America.

I'm not saying soccer won't become popular. It has a ways to go to get into the top 4 of professional sports in America. My only point was that people keep saying it and it hasn't come true--doesn't mean it won't.

I don't know about that. Football? not going to happen, but depending on your market an MLS team could do better than Hockey, Basketball or Baseball. I suspect it could easily overtake Hockey in much of the the country without much issue as our population centers continue to shift from the Rustbelt to the South.

MLS as a league has average more than the NBA or NHL over the last couple of years

I think that means we agree. If you notice, I said that soccer has a ways to go to get into the top 4. Nowhere did I mention it overtaking the NFL. Soccer has no chance of overtaking college football either.

I know there are several polls, but there was one released earlier this year that takes into account how people actually spend there time and money on sporting events. It put the MLS (the top soccer league in the U.S.) in 4th among males ages 15-25. Beating out the MLB (barely but still beat them). Only ones bigger were NFL, NBA, and college football. It may not become as big as the NFL in the USA, but it will definitely be a major player in the next 10 years.