How to make soccer more marketable in America

I want to preface this by saying that I am by no means a soccer fan. I don't like the game, and often make fun of people who play it because I'm a jerk.

That said, I happened to watch a Colorado Rapids game the other day. And upon doing so, a bunch of things immediately occurred to me that would help Major League Soccer further cement itself as a mainstream league in the United States and Canada.

First and foremost, the league needs to stop trying to emulate the Euro Leagues. The Euro Leagues have the superior talent and the tradition, so if MLS isn't any different at all then people don't have any reason to watch it.

Instead, Major League Soccer should try to learn from the example set by the four major sports leagues in the United States (MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL).

I'd never really watched many soccer games before, but when I watched the first thing I noticed was the clock. It counts up, instead of down. While this is pretty normal for soccer fans, the average guy sitting on the couch is going to be confused it he happens to flip to an MLS game. If the clock is counting up, how does the casual fan know how much time is left in the game? Real soccer fans know, but MLS already has their support, so that's a moot point. Use a clock that counts DOWN, so that people accustomed to other sports recognize things immediately when seeing the product for the first time.

Another thought along this line is the concept of "extra time", "stoppage time", and "injury time". Would it be so difficult to stop the damned clock like every other sport in this country? Because it appeared to me that the only person who knew how much time they were supposed to keep playing for after regulation ran out was the guy keeping the clock. The players and fans all looked pretty confused, because it was some arbitrary number like 6 minutes and 43 seconds. The average fan not knowing how much "extra time" they're going to play removes from the suspense and makes it boring.

Moving to another point, for the love of god, get rid of ties. The NHL finally wised up and did this a few years ago. There's nothing American sports fans hate worse than ties. A tie is like kissing your sister, as the old saying goes. And nobody wants to kiss their sister, all inbreeding jokes aside. Move to an overtime period, a shoot out, or both. I don't care. But when I sit down and watch an entire game, I want it to come to a reasonable conclusion. American fans are not "soccer purists". Most of us aren't watching for the appreciation of a match well played. We like to have winners and losers.

Another reason to get rid of the tie is that it adds to the excitement and aggression. Teams cannot "play for the tie", so to speak. They can't play a conservative styIe of game hoping to get the points necessary to secure playoff seeding. They have to play for the win, which means more scoring. And if teams are scoring, it's more exciting.

And I may show some ignorance of the rules of MLS on this point, but bear with me. In the hour or so of soccer I watched, I saw at least 25 flops. They really, really need to crack down on that. It only furthers the stereotype in America of soccer players being whiners and sissies. And Americans don't like whiners.

The last one is an ENTIRELY subjective and personal complaint that I have, and it's the names of the teams. Chivas USA, Real Salt Lake, DC United, Philadelphia Union, LA Galaxy. There's no consistency. The average fan has no freaking idea what they're talking about. Americans like teams named after animals and things. The Philadelphia Eagles, San Jose Sharks, Dallas Mavericks. The team names in Major League Soccer don't really have any continuity with the team names from the other major sports.

Well, there you go. That's just my assessment as an American sports fan. I have a particular interest in mid-major league sports leagues, and what makes them succeed and fail. I've watched the Arena Football League, the XFL, the NBA Development League, the National Lacrosse League, Major League Lacrosse, and lots of Minor League Baseball. I've seen lots of leagues do really smart things, and lots of leagues do really stupid things. I think that Major League Soccer could really take off it they just made an effort to reach out to fans of other sports my making their game more recognizable to us. What do you guys think?

Two words:

Bigger goals.

If they scored more often than once every 40 minutes it MIGHT be fun to watch.

You want my advice on Soccer in the US? GIVE UP!! Never gonna happen.blackngold29

Rig it and choreograph it to make it look super cool....like wrestling >___>

You want my advice on Soccer in the US? GIVE UP!! Never gonna happen.blackngold29

Two words:

Bigger goals.

If they scored more often than once every 40 minutes it MIGHT be fun to watch.

my_mortal_coil

Rig it and choreograph it to make it look super cool....like wrestling >___>

martialbullet

I'm not sure there is a lot that can happen to make soccer any more popular, people just wont care about it ayway

It never will be our sport, even though we are starting to get good at it and its popularity is increasing a tiny bit

oh, and the players could look less like little pansy twig boys :P jk

Two words:

Bigger goals.

If they scored more often than once every 40 minutes it MIGHT be fun to watch.

my_mortal_coil

dude you are completely wrong in every aspect of your improvements. What you summarized is what the MLS should avoid completely. Soccer isn't played in only one country like the NFL its the worlds most famous sport and all countries with soccer (Football) leagues follow FIFA regulations which controls everything that has to do with the sport. Changing the things mentioned will degrade the MLS at the international level and players will find the rules laughable. Also about the club names it has a long history of naming teams after their cities, so the MLS is trying to follow that route. Also all those things that you mentioned have been tried in the MLS their used to be shoot outs at the end of every game, the clock has also counted down but players and fans petitioned for it to count up, stoping the game for every foul made will slow the game down and make it boring to watch imo. I do agree with you about the flops and this can get solved by training refs more efficiently. What the MLS needs to do is finding a way to get our Jordan's, Lebrons. T.O.'s, and Our Best Athletes to start playing soccer this would create so much talent. The U.S. has potential to become one of the greatest football nations on earth but it seems it will never happen until american sports fans embrace soccer for what it is.kingcobrasoccer

Soccer is excruciatingly defense-based sport. A sport that has a lot more focus on stopping the other team from scoring than scoring yourself IMO. I don't think most Americans will ever take a liking to the sport unless they're raised around the sport and you can fully appreciate the skills that go with playing it.

I just don't want a big soccer hooligan scene.

Let it be known about all of the rioting

we would love that

every time you win a game you get to go around town and break stuff and set it on fire :P

[QUOTE="kingcobrasoccer"]dude you are completely wrong in every aspect of your improvements. What you summarized is what the MLS should avoid completely. Soccer isn't played in only one country like the NFL its the worlds most famous sport and all countries with soccer (Football) leagues follow FIFA regulations which controls everything that has to do with the sport. Changing the things mentioned will degrade the MLS at the international level and players will find the rules laughable. Also about the club names it has a long history of naming teams after their cities, so the MLS is trying to follow that route. Also all those things that you mentioned have been tried in the MLS their used to be shoot outs at the end of every game, the clock has also counted down but players and fans petitioned for it to count up, stoping the game for every foul made will slow the game down and make it boring to watch imo. I do agree with you about the flops and this can get solved by training refs more efficiently. What the MLS needs to do is finding a way to get our Jordan's, Lebrons. T.O.'s, and Our Best Athletes to start playing soccer this would create so much talent. The U.S. has potential to become one of the greatest football nations on earth but it seems it will never happen until american sports fans embrace soccer for what it is.savebattery

[QUOTE="savebattery"][QUOTE="kingcobrasoccer"]dude you are completely wrong in every aspect of your improvements. What you summarized is what the MLS should avoid completely. Soccer isn't played in only one country like the NFL its the worlds most famous sport and all countries with soccer (Football) leagues follow FIFA regulations which controls everything that has to do with the sport. Changing the things mentioned will degrade the MLS at the international level and players will find the rules laughable. Also about the club names it has a long history of naming teams after their cities, so the MLS is trying to follow that route. Also all those things that you mentioned have been tried in the MLS their used to be shoot outs at the end of every game, the clock has also counted down but players and fans petitioned for it to count up, stoping the game for every foul made will slow the game down and make it boring to watch imo. I do agree with you about the flops and this can get solved by training refs more efficiently. What the MLS needs to do is finding a way to get our Jordan's, Lebrons. T.O.'s, and Our Best Athletes to start playing soccer this would create so much talent. The U.S. has potential to become one of the greatest football nations on earth but it seems it will never happen until american sports fans embrace soccer for what it is.kingcobrasoccer

Change the rules to allow tackling and hockey style fights.fidosim

[QUOTE="kingcobrasoccer"]dude you are completely wrong in every aspect of your improvements. What you summarized is what the MLS should avoid completely. Soccer isn't played in only one country like the NFL its the worlds most famous sport and all countries with soccer (Football) leagues follow FIFA regulations which controls everything that has to do with the sport. Changing the things mentioned will degrade the MLS at the international level and players will find the rules laughable. Also about the club names it has a long history of naming teams after their cities, so the MLS is trying to follow that route. Also all those things that you mentioned have been tried in the MLS their used to be shoot outs at the end of every game, the clock has also counted down but players and fans petitioned for it to count up, stoping the game for every foul made will slow the game down and make it boring to watch imo. I do agree with you about the flops and this can get solved by training refs more efficiently. What the MLS needs to do is finding a way to get our Jordan's, Lebrons. T.O.'s, and Our Best Athletes to start playing soccer this would create so much talent. The U.S. has potential to become one of the greatest football nations on earth but it seems it will never happen until american sports fans embrace soccer for what it is.savebattery

How do you sell an eskimo ice?

[QUOTE="kingcobrasoccer"]

[QUOTE="savebattery"] See, what you're not getting are the reasons why Americans don't accept soccer. Americans aren't going to adapt to soccer. Soccer has to adapt to America or remain a fringe sport here forever. MLS is already "degraded" at the international level. And what happens in international soccer isn't relevant to the casual American fan. savebattery

[QUOTE="kingcobrasoccer"]

[QUOTE="savebattery"] See, what you're not getting are the reasons why Americans don't accept soccer. Americans aren't going to adapt to soccer. Soccer has to adapt to America or remain a fringe sport here forever. MLS is already "degraded" at the international level. And what happens in international soccer isn't relevant to the casual American fan. savebattery

I dunno, I don't think soccer..Err, FOOTBALL will ever be popular in north America as a major league sport. Everyone is too interested in Hockey and American football.

[QUOTE="savebattery"][QUOTE="kingcobrasoccer"] Soccer will never change. The only thing that changed is its name and thats as far as it goes. Americans are simply not built to enjoy soccer and that is the truth. The only reason soccer is growing is due to the many immigrants from foreign countries that are bringing the love of the sport to this country. The MLS is actually gaining some respect for itself we have a decent national team that can compete with the elite teams and we are attracting international players which is good. I think MLS is degraded among the United States by the american sports fans which i perfectly understand imo. most americans prefer cars driving in circles or watching golf then soccer.

kingcobrasoccer

[QUOTE="savebattery"][QUOTE="kingcobrasoccer"] Soccer will never change. The only thing that changed is its name and thats as far as it goes. Americans are simply not built to enjoy soccer and that is the truth. The only reason soccer is growing is due to the many immigrants from foreign countries that are bringing the love of the sport to this country. The MLS is actually gaining some respect for itself we have a decent national team that can compete with the elite teams and we are attracting international players which is good. I think MLS is degraded among the United States by the american sports fans which i perfectly understand imo. most americans prefer cars driving in circles or watching golf then soccer.

kingcobrasoccer

"Selling Out"? There's nothing wrong with making a sport more appealing to more people...Just because you don't like it doesn't make it bad...

Anyways, the only point I agree with is make MLS players stop being pansies. People should be called out for diving much more often and it should have a stricter penalty. I played high school soccer and club soccer and nothing pissed me off more than a diver.

I dunno, I don't think soccer..Err, FOOTBALL will ever be popular in north America as a major league sport. Everyone is too interested in Hockey and American football.

carrot-cake

In the US, Hockey is the last on list of the most popular sports (football, baseball, basketball, hockey).

I would like to see more international teams play on ESPNHD, and not on the crappy GolTV and Fox Sports Espanol, which is all blurry.ChicaQueenWarGa

[QUOTE="carrot-cake"]

I dunno, I don't think soccer..Err, FOOTBALL will ever be popular in north America as a major league sport. Everyone is too interested in Hockey and American football.

trix5817

In the US, Hockey is the last on list of the most popular sports (football, baseball, basketball, hockey).

nice idea american guy but impossible. The bodies that internationally deal with football have the goal to keep the game the same around the world nomatter where it is played or what level it is being played at. Thats why there is a huge debate over introducing goal line technology, it would make the upper echelons of the game different to the local sunday pub match. And in the world of football america is still a small fry (though a potentially huge market obviously, andyour international team earned alot of respect in the recent tournament but the world cup is the real test, cannot wait for america vs North Korea lol) so i dont see them changing, nor should they in my view, ties are a part of the game and would not always push teams to be more offensive, ending games in a shootout would lead to what we see in world cups with teams defending for spot kicks, very very dry.

p.s. UP THE PALACE MIGHTY PALACE FROM SELHURST

1. İts not soccer, its football. You play it with aBALL and kick it with a foot unlike the other football.

2. Football is too natural andrequires too much skill for Americans(apart from the women) to handle. They like their whimpy pads and armour all around the bodiesof their steroid pumped meatheads.

3. And the time system will not change thats why there is extra time.

[QUOTE="ChicaQueenWarGa"]I would like to see more international teams play on ESPNHD, and not on the crappy GolTV and Fox Sports Espanol, which is all blurry.6_volts

Doesn't the MLS have some joint agreement with FIFA? Like almost every other domestic league in every country, if so you can't change the rules that are set by FIFA.

I don't agree with your points, maybe the average soccer fan who doesn't know how long a game is or knows what stoppage time is should watch some European soccer to get the idea. It's not that hard to understand.