Soccer is one of the most played sports in the whole world. People seem always to be crazy about the game. Most of the countries around the six continents play soccer regularly. According to the big count survey of FIFA, almost 4% of athletes around the world are presently involved in the game of soccer that is 265 million.
But the shocking part is about the popularity of soccer in the USA. Americans do not prefer playing soccer the majority of the time. If you’re a fan of football in the United States, you have probably experienced the sense of going against the flow whenever you watch a game. People all over the world mention soccer as football. But Americans even do not like to name that.
10 Reasons why is soccer not popular in the United States?
There are a variety of reasons for soccer’s inability to truly catch off in the United States. We have mentioned the top ten reasons below in our article.
Americans are not best at soccer
Americans are obsessed with becoming the finest at anything and everything. Of course, this is a good part. Soccer is a worldwide game, which means outstanding players and tournaments are available on every continent. The competition level also rises very high due to this reason. In the world of soccer, the United States soccer team is not a power team. So, American followers are also not high in number in a soccer match.
Low scores
Soccer intends to have an average goal score in the matches. Generally, the scores remain between an average of 2-5 goals. It is also possible to have a 0-0 score in a soccer match that the Americans dislike the most. If no team can score a goal even after giving a fair amount of chances, the game ends in a resulting tie. Where in other games like basketball, the average score of the team is high. So, the scoring also affects the popularity of the soccer match.
Not suitable for advertisements and sales
The materialistic nature of the Americans is also a major reason behind soccer as a not-so-popular sport. Companies in the United States aim to make as much profit as possible. Advertising is, without a doubt, the most important stream of revenue organizations have while airing athletic events.
As a result, marketers are more likely to encourage activities that are more commercial. So, they may get a chance to put their advertisement. Soccer being a straight 90-minutes game with just one-half hour does not look ideal for the business.
Read Also: When and Where was Soccer Invented?
Disliking ties
Sports are a medium of entertainment for the viewers. They sit long hours in the stadium and get engaged inside the game to cheer up their favorite team. So, it is certainly disheartening to watch the result as a tie. There is generally a champion in baseball, basketball, and American football matches. But in soccer, there is a chance to have 0-0 goals that make the match a tie. Americans consider the defeat of both teams in case of a tie. Not only Americans but disliking a tie is common in most of the sport enthusiastic around the world.
The attraction with excessively large objects
It could be unusually large beverages and potato wedges, people driving large vehicles, or broad streets. As a result, it is indeed natural for such a tendency to express it in games. Where in NBA, the average points are high or similar to 50 points, in a soccer match, a team can hardly score 4-5 goals. It is clear that everyone in the USA is more into NBA matches as the points of a soccer match do not go with the American culture.
Excessive faking of injuries
Soccer players enjoy faking and exaggerating penalties by crawling around on the ground and yelling. Generally, Americans address this action as flopping. Flopping is a very efficient game technique in soccer where athletes gain some benefits for their teams.
Americans love to watch physical and aggressive games. They often get attracted towards the soccer games and the players as well. So, it may be difficult for Americans to embrace a discipline in which participants flop so frequently. Watching their favorite athletes flop from time to time only to gain some extra benefits seems unethical to them. It is another reason for the Americans not liking soccer.
1863 and England expansion
The rules of the football association had been created in a pub in England in 1863. European colonization promoted the expansion of the sport of soccer in many continents including Africa, South America, and Asia. However, in the United States, where another game, rugby, was growing more popular. In addition, soccer struggled to expand due to the popularity of rugby.
A book named “Tom Brown at Rugby” had helped to flourish rugby in the academic sections. The sport gradually developed into modern-day American Football in the United States from the school game rugby.
Other games are more culturally significant in the United States
Soccer is famous all around the world. But in the USA, Baseball, Basketball, and American football get more prominent than other sports. The audience enjoys the NBA due to the nature of the game. Even American football is also more culturally prominent in the USA.
The added time in the last half of soccer
Soccer is a 90-minutes game. But due to flopping, injuries, or indiscipline, the game gets disturbed. The clock continues after the given ninety minutes to cover up the given time. It does not look good in the eyes of some fans.
Rather than heading down, the clock gets higher
Everyone knows about the ninety-minute time frame in a soccer match. But surprisingly, the time increases with the progression of the game, rather than just going down. Furthermore, the referee can provide extra time if there is any disturbance during the actual timing of the game. So, the rising timing helps the referee to keep an account of the additional minutes.
Americans have customized their version of American football to enjoy the game. Soccer can be popular in the USA if the audience agrees to go with enjoying the game. Moreover, for the future of soccer in America, the young generation can be inspired and trained to develop the game in any other country.