DESPITE its name, the Copa America has never been played
north of the Rio Grande before.
On June 3rd the international soccer tournament
kicks off in Santa Clara, California. Games will take place in ten cities
across the country over the next four weeks. It is the latest effort to cement
the sport into the mainstream consciousness. Soccer still lags behind
America’s four leading sports: baseball, basketball, hockey and American
football. But several measures suggest that the game is gaining ground.
Much of the hard running took place in the 1990s, when the
successful hosting of the World Cup coincided with a surge of young players and
the formation of Major League Soccer (MLS). According to a poll for ESPN, soccer
has become the second-most popular sport for 12-24 year olds, after American
football, and is the standout leader among Hispanics of the same age. Last year
soccer-playing among boys in high school grew more than any other sport,
according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.
The success of the national teams, in particular the women’s
side, has been a boon. Last year, the Women’s World Cup final attracted a
domestic TV audience of 27m. There is
now more live soccer available on American TV than in any other country.
When it comes to revenue, soccer generates just half the
revenue of Japanese baseball and a tenth of what the NBA does.
The United Soccer League, or USL, will grow from 20 to 24
teams over the next two seasons. It has one of the youngest fan bases of all
American sports—52% of MLS fans are aged 18-34, the highest proportion of any
professional sports league.
TV audiences are growing (tying domestic fixtures in with
English Premier League games, which attract larger audiences, has worked well)
and networks see the potential, signing a $90m-a-year deal to 2022 for
broadcasting rights.
Still, MLS has still not fully dispelled its image as
a retirement home for European stars. Only Sebastian Giovinco, a player for
Toronto FC, can be considered a foreign star in his prime. With a new surge of
spending on soccer in China, it may become even more difficult to attract stars.
America has more world-beating athletes than any other country, but none of
them play soccer. Yet.
