Daniel Cox on the Growth of Soccer in the USA
As 100 million sports fans watch the Super Bowl XLIX and wonder if the New England Patriots will beat the Seattle Seahawks, there is another sport on the rise in this country and, yes — it is the world’s most popular sport.
Soccer is fast becoming the most played sport and maybe someday, as Daniel Cox wonders, might even replace football as America’s favorite sport. While soccer only has the World Cup every four years and may never dent America’s fever for the Super Bowl, our country has become quite ‘bullish’ on soccer.
The growing popularity of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the huge surge in awareness of the Latino population thirst for soccer make the world’s beautiful game clearly a strong force in the sports world.
After years of waiting – what is different now? Why is soccer quickly becoming the talk of the sports world? According to Cox, it is the rise of youth soccer leagues.
Youth soccer has grown dramatically over the last four decades, with participation rates increasing by roughly 300 percent from 1974 to 2014. In 1974, the U.S. Youth Soccer Association registered only about 100,000 players. This year, the organization has over over 3 million registered players. Reflecting this growth, new research from the 2015 PRRI/Religion News Survey shows that kids who play soccer usually grow up loving the game and being lifelong fans.
While only eight percent of Americans overall claim soccer is their favorite sport, nearly half (46 percent) of former soccer players say they are soccer fans first and foremost.
This trendsetting research dramatically shows that the future is exceptionally bright for soccer in America. Our culture embraces what we understand and can call our own and Americans, who grow up playing soccer, are clearly more likely to have a greater appreciation for the sport and often serve as its most ardent fans.
Why is this news? Because the times have changed – now, young people (age 18 to 29) are 10 times more likely than their parents or grandparents (age 65+) to have grown up playing soccer (A huge 22 percent vs. 2 percent).
How can soccer become more popular than football? Amidst the flurry of Super Bowl excitement it may be hard to comprehend but today’s kids are more than twice as likely to grow up playing youth soccer than peewee football (22 percent vs. 8 percent).
The PRRI/RNS poll shows – as Cox says, “The growing popularity of youth soccer in the U.S. means football may soon have to compete for fans among a population that grew up playing and remain loyal to fútbol.”
For more information on the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute findings on the future of soccer popularity in the United States, click here.
Another reference supporting the rise in soccer in America: Last year, and for the first time in the 20-year history of the ESPN Sports Poll Annual Report the poll determined soccer was America’s second-most popular game (for those aged 12-24) ahead of NBA, MLB and college football. Who knows what it will say this year.
