Is qualitative data the key to soccer’s popularity in the US?

[Logic]

http://blogs.thescore.com/footyblog/2012/02/22/is-qualitative-data-the-key-to-soccers-popularity-in-the-us/

 

Too Americanized™? Or a valid point?

 

I say the latter.

[Maldini]

What a f***ing c*** that comedian is

[Nebraska Red]

The NFL, the NBA and MLB are by far the most popular of American team sports.

 

They all have something in common, scripted plays and TV timeouts.

 

American TV viewers love scripted plays, they want to see something that is drawn up before, or during, a game and watch it being played out to its conclusion. They want to see it being "broken down" at half time or after the game by experts who seem to know what they are talking about.

 

Soccer is too messy for many Americans, it is much more of a reactive game that ebbs and flows without many of the scripted plays. The fact that there are no natural gaps in the play to allow for TV breaks does not help.

 

Hockey struggles with the scripted plays issue, but does allow the beer swilling, hot dog eating fans some time to grab stuff during the timeouts for TV.

 

Soccer in the USA will always be a 5th or 6th best TV sport, but things are improving thanks to ESPN, DirecTV and hopefully NBC.

 

We went to a Mexican restaurant on Saturday for dinner, the place was dead at 6pm, but 45 minutes later it was a heaving mass of Mexican soccer fans who were there to watch the Saturday night game on one of the many Hispanic channels. The bar I usually go to had our game on yesterday and they had a good crowd for such an early start. That same place also opens on saturday mornings for the 6.45am games when there are 2 decent teams on ESPN2.

 

Maybe if Kenny walked the touchline wearing a hoodie and carrying a clipboard, more people over here would watch!!