| Great peice TD muchos kudos.
I can't really comment on sports from the US of A in an historical sense because I can't pretend I know enough about the roots of your sporting heritage. But what I can tell you is that even if Freddy Adu becomes the greatest player in the world (And I believe he could easily crack the top ten) and Team USA win the world cup in Germany 2006 soccer will not take off as a mainstream sport in your country.
It is my simple belief that sports that are continually pushed in your country are very similar to the entertainment industry. I.E. they have to generate advertising revenue. For as skilled and as tactical as American Football is it still bores the rest of the world because you stop every 10 secs to reset and that is also added to with 3 half breaks numerous time-out and 2 minute warnings. An absoloute bonaza for advertisement breaks. Basketball also incurs numerous stoppages. Baseball, seriously 17 innings changes!! And the other sports you mention garnering media attention Tennis a break every 2nd game, Golf easily editted, Nascar, pits and saftey cars plus the fact that action is very similar and so can be broke easily. All these sports carry multiple and regular opportunity for advertisement breaks. And this is where soccer is vastly different. Throw-ins corners and other re-starts are taken to quickly to allow breaks and so a TV carrier is commiting himself to 2 nearly 50 minute unbrowken sections with no advertising revenue whatsoever. Thus making the only way for soccer to be financially prudent is to be 100% PPV. And no sport can become main-stream on that basis.
A shame really because the USA do seem to be one of the countries in the world that does have a constantly improving soccer team. And with the size of population (espicially a population that for the most part has access to education and sport at an early age) it is almost a given that if you took soccer seriously you would be a mainstay in the top 10 teams in the world. |