We are just a few days away from the start of the Copa America soccer tournament in the United States -June 20 to July 14- and this will be one of the great challenges facing the country in the next two years because it will also host -in 2026- the World Cup along with Canada and Mexico. In other words, they have limited time to try to make a leap that will lead them to compete with the more traditional and mass-consumption sports of North Americans, a difficult task to carry out.
The United States Soccer Federation was founded in 1913 and has been affiliated with FIFA since 1967. Later, in the 1970s, the National American Soccer League was created, revolutionizing the game with the arrival of Pelé at the mythical New York Cosmos. Other figures such as Carlos Alberto, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff and Giorgio Chinaglia also arrived, showing the way for the first stage of a long journey that began with the creation of Major League Soccer in 1993. This was founded after negotiation between FIFA and the Football Federation to grant them the 1994 World Cup in exchange for implementing a competition with the rules that FIFA has worldwide and renouncing to internal modifications.
In 1996 the first season of Major League Soccer was played and, from then on, soccer has been gaining a space with ups and downs. MLS is a young institution compared to other countries with a soccer tradition, less than 30 years old, so it is not fair to have a biased view of its development and growth, but it is no less true to legitimately raise some questions about it: why is it so hard to penetrate or fit into an exponentially good market with millions of followers in various sports? I will try to outline some reasons so that we can freely understand the idiosyncrasy, nationalism and deep sports culture that exists in the North American country.
IT IS NOT A ‘MADE IN USA’ SPORT
The first look is related to soccer that does not come from them natively, they feel it as a sport of Latin Americans, including the English and the rest of the world. It does not have that sense of identity with its roots. Just to exemplify this point, there is American football, with its NFL, if we go to the origins of this sport we see that it dates back to 1920, it comes from English rugby and they turn it into their own product giving it a new identity, adapting it to their vision of the game and spectacle. Moreover, rugby in the USA is a lower level sport and is not among the top 10 most watched or highest grossing sports.
Messi in Fort Lauderdale (Yaroslav Sabitov/Shutterstock)
The second view of the experts is understood by the dynamics of the game. Soccer is a predictable sport, unattractive in terms of the number of exciting situations and results, and the game times are considered extremely long compared to other sports such as basketball, which has constant scoring and games end with more than 100 points. The same in American football where all games average between 40 and 50 points per team, something similar happens with the famous baseball races. It is rare to see a game that ends in a tie with no touchdowns.
LACK OF BREAKS, ANOTHER REASON
Another of the contributions that come to the fore is a study by the University of Oxford that analyzed with a universe of a thousand people: why soccer does not become a popular sport? The answers provided an interesting background for the American’s philosophy of life and it is related to the lack of rest: there are only 15 minutes of halftime and nothing more. In fact, those consulted consider a period of 45 minutes without a break to be too long. The study also indicates that the level of concentration and attention of the game is easily diluted and you lose interest. Unlike what happens with its powerful leagues such as the NBA, which has four quarters and four breaks -in addition to all the time-outs-, similar to the NFL, which has four quarters, or the NHL, which has three halves. Another element provided by this study is that the fan who goes to the stadium wants an event that goes beyond the purely sporting, he wants to live a unique experience and connect with the environment.
Another factor for those who have studied why soccer does not grow so massively in the United States for diehard male fans is because they consider it a female sport. Proof of this is the rich history of the U.S. national team on the world stage, with 4 World Cup titles and 4 gold medals at the Olympics. The men’s national team has no similar success except in CONCACAF. This makes the vast majority of the male public -which is the one that consumes the most sports in the USA- see it as a sport that is closely associated and rooted to women’s soccer.
One of the latest reasons for this introspective on soccer is the lack of an icon or a great national figure. Unlike other sports such as the NBA, where world-class figures such as Michael Jordan in his time or Lebron James or in the NFL an illustrious Tom Brady, retired, but a seven-time Super Bowl winner.
THE NFL, MLB, NBA AND NHL FIGURES
But let’s move on to the present and future of soccer in the United States. As we said at the beginning of this editorial, no one can think that soccer can displace American football. This is the number one sport, with a rootedness and sense of belonging rarely seen in other sports and an annual turnover of around 14 billion dollars; then comes the MLB, with a turnover close to 11 billion dollars; the NBA with annual revenues of over 8 billion dollars; and the NHL with a revenue of 4 billion dollars. MLS, in this sense, is still far from these figures, with a turnover of around $2 billion, although it is on the right track.
We assume that soccer is far away from this level of stratospheric revenues, but there are also positive signs that make us think that this popular sport, massive and growing in recent years, has an upturn and breaks the barrier that prevents classic soccer from taking over the stadiums and bursting with more strength than ever. With the arrival of Lionel Messi along with other icons and stars, this metamorphosis is expected to open the doors and raise the flag of a universal sport, which does not need language, religion or color, only the will to build a better world through soccer. They know that MESSIMANIA is now and, everyone is certain that as long as the world champion with Argentina is still in soccer, he will be decisive to continue in this escalation of growth and expansion in American territory.
The sum of the players on and off the field will be an unmistakable sign for the Americans. Last year, a million-dollar agreement was signed between MLS and Apple to broadcast all Major League Soccer matches, inside and outside the United States, for 250 million dollars (10 seasons) and a growth projection for the next decade. However, the most immediate and short-term task is to reach that captive audience that is eager to watch good shows and, to do so, they must improve. Today, the vast majority of soccer franchises are loss-making and technically bankrupt, a reality that must be reversed because Lionel Messi and Apple go hand in hand, but they are not the saviors of an activity that belongs to everyone.
