About a week ago I shared a conference room with other journalists, cameramen and MLS commissioner Don Garber, who answered questions about the new stadium going up downtown and what it means to the professional game in the States.
In that room I found sad reminders that so many myths and stereotypes remain attached to the game – incorrect assumptions about professional soccer that stubbornly prevail.
Myth No. 1: That soccer still needs to “make it.”
Here’s a question straight from the 1992 journalists handbook: “When will soccer ‘make it?’ ” The thin query usually gets asked by a general news reporter or a newspaper columnist who doesn’t have sufficient depth of knowledge to ask a more pertinent question.
I always think the same thing: I’d like to query the questioner, “When will Thai food ‘make it’ here?’ You know, it’s not as big as Chinese food! It’s got to ‘make it.’ Right?
The reporter would probably say, “Well, it is what it is. What does it matter whether Thai food or Chinese food is bigger?”
Exactly.
It’s certainly fair if we want to discuss market share in the U.S. sports scene, or the competition for marketing dollars or strategies for cracking hard-to-reach consumer demographics, etc. But generally, the game is growing apace and doesn’t need to “make it.” That’s just kind of silly.
Myth No. 2: The marketing model is still about selling to families
I suppose the soccer world is more insular than I sometimes understand. People who follow the game understand how the professional game’s marketing strategies shifted so significantly about five years ago. It’s all about 20- and 30-somethings, about creating “real” fans. It’s about making the club matter, establishing a base of supporters who truly care about club, who rejoice at wins and sulk forlornly at setbacks.
It’s hasn’t been about suburban families looking for something to do on a Saturday night for a few years now – not in most markets, anyway.
But I forget that a substantial number of U.S. consumers don’t live in MLS markets – so we’ll need more time to kill off those old school beliefs about the tired marketing models. Because the questions about families and suburbs and pro soccer are still out there.
Myth No. 3: That professional soccer’s success and acceptance of the game at a greater level are inextricably linked.
Two words: they aren’t.
Major League Soccer is the game’s most visible property, so I get this one, that pro soccer is frequently linked to the development of the game at a broader level.
I get it, but that doesn’t make it any less incorrect.
Soccer as a game is what it is. It’s a popular activity, a great sport for kids, a staple of many ethnic communities, a sport with burgeoning awareness at international level, etc.
Now, “professional soccer” still has scads of room to grow – but that’s a different matter altogether. “Soccer” as a sport has ample societal acceptance here. (Who really cares if a few older white guys with a certain media influence still want to bluster about a “boring” game; there were more of them 10 years ago, there will be even fewer of them in 10 years to come. Believe me on this one.)
“Soccer” is not going away in the United States – no matter how fast or slow the game develops at professional level.
I suppose, all things considered, I should be happy that old guard general sports columnists and pretty news anchors don’t still ask if we should widen the doggone goals in order to promote greater American acceptance? I do believe, at very least, that we’ve finally killed off that one.
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- ndnut - May 21, 2012 at 10:51 AM
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Do they all forget the term “soccer mom” when referring to that last myth? Amazingly, nobody ever says “football mom” or “baseball mom” because youth soccer is more popular than other youth sports. Now the players that stick with it {lots in my area of SF, SD (figure it out)} are going to develop and become professionals. I also hope academies are more widely accepted, even in a modified summer vacation only form. It’ll bring quality up a notch. I also think summer would convince more parents since they wouldn’t miss school.
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- whordy - May 21, 2012 at 10:56 AM
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I disagree with Myth #3. I’m not sure what the ceiling on a “successful” league is if you can’t even call into a mainstream sports talk radio station to talk about it, if NCAA Lacrosse games get more airtime on ESPN than MLS games, and if anchors on the most watched sports station in American audibly snicker and stumble over facts during the token once-a-week soccer highlight.
I think MLS has done great to get where it is, but to pretend that it can be in any way “successful” if the average American would rather insult the sport and disrespect people who like it must mean you have a pretty low ceiling on what successful it.
I hear this pipe dream about MLS being one of the best leagues in the world in 10 years, but I am of the mindset we should actually worry about selling the sport itself to the country it is being played in before we starting comparing ourselves to La Liga or the EPL.
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- Steve Davis - May 21, 2012 at 12:15 PM
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my point is that “soccer” will not and cannot go away. Even if Major League Soccer were to disappear, there’s plenty of soccer around, youth, international, Champions League, England, Italy, Mexico, etc. Pro soccer in the States could go away, but soccer isn’t going anywhere.
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- griffinjohn - May 21, 2012 at 4:11 PM
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You need to understand how a network like ESPN works before making a comment about LAX getting more airtime. ESPN pays major money to conferences like the ACC for football and basketball. For all that football and basketball money the network gets the other sports basically for free and that helps ESPN fill programming slots.
The same for ESPN’s deal with the NCAA. They pay a rights fee for NCAA Championships to get the “big” events and then are handed the secondary events for use as they see fit.
Soccer has made it in this country, just look at what happened in the last week with coverage of the Premiership and UCL on the FOX networks and have you noticed ESPN is now running aggressive promos for EURO 12.
MLS will only benefit from all of this…
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- wesbadia - May 22, 2012 at 9:13 AM
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Seriously? We, in 2012, are STILL worried about the way a select few media pundits on SportsCenter, Around the Horn, Jim Rome Show, etc are lambasting the sport? This isn’t 2000 anymore. The league is 17 years old. That’s a generation right there.
The 20- and 30-something’s that were bashing the league in the late 90′s are now 40- and 50-something’s that are FORCED by their kids to watch and attend soccer matches because it’s what the kids are watching and playing now. This is the truth. Get involved in ANY youth rec soccer league around the country and all you’ll find in coaching and admin positions is former anti-soccer mom’s and dad’s that have fallen in love with the sport. I’ve been coaching youth rec for years now (not because I have to, but because I want to) and every admin person in the league I’m with now has openly stated that they hated soccer with a passion until their kids started playing. Then something changed. They saw the joy and the fun that it brings to their children, even if their kids aren’t good at the sport. They get roped into the emotion behind it, and once that chink in the armor is exposed, the whole front comes down.
People will love soccer. That’s a fact. There’s a reason it’s the World’s Sport. Even if MLS collapses tomorrow, you can’t destroy the myriad youth programs in the country simply because it’s grassroots and the passion for the sport is there in the hearts of the kids. Time is on our side, and as more and more kids play, more and more parents will find themselves adopting it, too. You’re putting entirely WAY too much merit on the words of anti-soccer media types. They are an extreme minority in this country. Treating them seriously is giving them too much credit for what they do.
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- rhinosinsider - May 21, 2012 at 11:25 AM
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MLS is not the sport of soccer.
MLS is a second or third tier league when you take a larger view. Sports fans in the US love the best. That’s why NFL stadiums will sell out when big time European clubs once again come to the US to cash in during off season exhibition matches.
Also, don’t forget how huge the Mexican NT and Mexican league Spanish language broadcasts are here in the US.
Soccer is not as easy to put into a nice little box like other sports are due to the wide variety of top leagues, ethnic ties to non-US NTs and leagues, and youth soccer participation vs playing and fandom of adults.
When Fox has the Champions League final on and I’m hearing mainstream sports talk people talking about it on Monday morning, I think that means that soccer has “made it” in the US.
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- mrtuktoyaktuk - May 21, 2012 at 12:28 PM
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The “making it” goalposts have moved over time, so to say. Ultimately, in our capitalist society, “making it” means making money off the sport. A lot of money. We’ve reached that point with World Cup, huge ratings, massive advert revenues, huge payments to secure broadcast rights. We may have reached it with the Premiership, UEFA Champions League and the Euro championships. Fox, especially this year, has decided to leverage its broadcasts through out its spectrum. The rating growth has been massive for English language broadcasts, already massive but growing still for Spanish language broadcasts. When MLS broadcast rights gets monetized in a similar manner (on the level of NHL, not NFL to be realistic), then that should spur all kinds of interesting things in the league – expansion of salary caps, possibly the end of single entity. I don’t know where we are going but we are starting to get there.
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- brianjshea - May 21, 2012 at 12:32 PM
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I’m not sure what the ceiling on a “successful” league is if … NCAA Lacrosse games get more airtime on ESPN than MLS games
NCAA lax on ESPN/ESPN2 – 15 games
MLS on ESPN/ESPN2 – 21 gamesI don’t think anyone has been “comparing ourselves to La Liga or the EPL.” I also think you are projecting some very narrow experiences when you talk about how insulted and derided the league is. Mostly, it just isn’t noticed, but to act as if there is this active campaign against MLS, well, you’re just seeing what you want to see.
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- mrtuktoyaktuk - May 21, 2012 at 1:16 PM
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ESPN isn’t the primary MLS broadcaster. It’s another discussion on whether they should be. In any case this year’s deal with NBC Sports Network is just for this year. All MLS rights are up for bid in 2013, we’ll get a sense of what a longer term deal is worth then. Lots of potential scenarios, lots of potential suitors – EPSN, NBC, the new channel Al Jazeera is setting up for US Serie A and La Liga broadcasts, who knows maybe even Fox again, etc.
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- lonestarv - May 21, 2012 at 2:11 PM
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NBC deal is three years, not just this season.
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- mrtuktoyaktuk - May 21, 2012 at 2:30 PM
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oops, thanks for the correction.
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- LasVegasMatt - May 21, 2012 at 3:46 PM
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I agree, we can’t judge ‘making it’ by how much we see it on ESPN. They show countless hours of WNBA, and I believe we can all agree that’s not ‘making it’. ESPN only shows sports they profit from. Their lack of hockey coverage has been laughable ever since they stopped showing the league after the NHL strike. US Soccer, and even the MLS, isn’t going anywhere. It has become a staple of many people’s lives and will continue to grow.
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- shackdelrio - May 21, 2012 at 4:56 PM
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I think the WNBA coverage must be part of their deal with the NBA.
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- shackdelrio - May 21, 2012 at 5:01 PM
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On a side note, 32k tickets sold for the Scotland-US friendly in Jacksonville on Saturday. A record for a friendly in Florida. I think we could get to 40k by the weekend.
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- californiaredskins - May 21, 2012 at 5:21 PM
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Agree with the premise that you have to define what ‘making it’ actually means. Undoubtedly MLS has been very successful in growing its product, which is due in large part to the great work being done by Don Garber and his staff. I think when you take into account the attendance figures and and growing revenues, MLS is certainly well on its way. I think I saw a figure that the MLS audience on NBC Sports is up about 60-70% over last year’s on FSC. A little misleading due to the larger availability of the channel, but a positive sign nonetheless.
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- hotkarlmalone - May 21, 2012 at 9:02 PM
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espn has wnba as part of their nba contract….
Also, I don’t think it’s fair to view the mls being the decider if soccer is “making it” at this point when youre seeing so much growth in us interest in ucl, epl, la liga, and European soccer at-large. When my uncle in the Midwest who couldn’t tell you a single European club 4 years ago now watches almost all epl and ucl on tv- that’s real progress but for the time being the performance of usmnt is much more important than mls for soccer “making it” imo
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- lyleoross - May 25, 2012 at 3:02 PM
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Steve,
You need to rethink your definition of success. What you’ve missed in your article is whether we are interested in the sport of soccer at a high enough level that it is observable on the street. The fact is that we have achieved that and not through youth soccer or the MLS, but through a serious interest in international football that grew out of the last world cup, the true turning point for soccer in the U.S. Set aside MLS, and the fastest growing youth sport in Houston, where I coach, and look at the fan participation in the international game on comment boards, in bars and at every level. The truth is that the world cup drove an interest that is back filling throughout the sport. In the clubs where I coach, player participation doubled directly after the world cup. The number of Barcelona and Man U. jerseys on the street went from almost nothing to higher than the level of American football jerseys here in Houston. At my kids school, on any given day, I see three or four jerseys from European clubs, equivalent to what I see for the big three U.S. sports. I grant you that Houston is unique, but I watch MLS on the tube and I’m seeing the same kind of rabid fan base in the MLS that I see here in Houston. What drove all of this was a quiet building of expectations for the last world cup by U.S. Soccer and media (that would be both men’s and women’s). The expectation was that we were going to make it into the semis for men, and win the whole thing on the women’s side (whether warranted or not). Yes, U.S. fans like a winner. When we didn’t make it to the semis and lost to Japan, the fans were mad, but interested. And for the first time they wanted more. They are watching and hungry. They know who Dempsey is and they know our international players much more than our MLS players. I won’t argue that the world cup trigger wasn’t laid by the building of MLS and youth soccer, in fact I believe it was. But the last world cup was the event that took us from a country that didn’t care about soccer, to one that did, the real mark of success of the sport in the U.S.
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- uh1973 - May 26, 2012 at 11:23 PM
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I was always one who thought soccer was a snoozefest, but what changed my mind was when I lived in Europe for a few months in the 90s. I was able to begin to follow the game and enjoyed watching various games while I lived there. I absolutely love the World Cup, Champions League, EPL and other big games. I still have little or no interest in American pro soccer. No offense to MLS but until the league starts attracting better players it’s not on my radar. I know that is probably a pipedream because of the disparity in salaries MLS can pay in comparison to Europe, but as I’ve told many friends, I’ll get more serious about MLS when Americans become major players in Europe. To me being a major contributor on an English, Spanish or German team means an American player has arrived. I’m not talking about one or two guys but several. We’ve been playing the game here for more than a half century and you can count on one hand the number of U.S. born players that contribute overseas. I also agree with people that too many commentators pooh-pooh the game whether its being talked about on sports talk radio or on TV. I don’t want to hear its boring. Sure there isn’t a ton of scoring, but how exciting can a 10-7 college football game be or a 2-1 baseball game be. Don’t get me started on the NBA when its 80-69.
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- soccerknowitall - May 28, 2012 at 1:01 AM
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what are we witnessing as us soccer fans?
Jurgen klinsmann modeled his 06 german team from that of the top flight teams in the epl. he asked his germans to play ungerman, uptempo possession style the likes of man u, arsenal,or chelsea.
he has now modeled another team to play not like a national team style(american) if you will, but an epl team similar to chelsea or man u. i always felt that building a team using this model would be preferrable as these teams play year round and are superior to national teams in style of play, cohesion, and effectiveness.
gl JK with the progress to 2014 WC
