DownSwinging.com

In 2006, the FIFA World Cup thrust soccer into the U.S. national limelight, as sports pundits everywhere showed twelve seconds of highlights and then had a three minute “In Depth” segment featuring pictures of Ronaldhino, Alexi Lalas blathering about something and asking just when soccer was going to make it big in the US.

The sports pundits should really have been asking, “When am I going to like soccer?” Soccer is big in the United States. The average American fan can identify some of the world’s premier teams, players and tournaments. While Joe Sports won’t be able to tell me what IFK Göteberg is anytime soon (for the record, the Gothenburg Angels are one of Sweden’s top clubs), he knows that last year we were suppose to really like David Beckham, and this year he is suppose to find Beckham distasteful. He knows that the Confederations Cup is in fact, pronounced with an “s.” He is aware that South Africa is hosting next year’s World Cup, and that Brazil is really, really good. And that is just the average fan. A growing number of soccer junkies can rattle off Arsenal’s starting lineup, Real Madrid’s anthems and will proudly explain to you just how exactly the Champions League works. The fact of the matter is the game of the world’s masses is no longer simply in the realm of the US’ richest classes.

We don’t have to look further than our homegrown league, Major League Soccer. While the level of play is often criticized, MLS has expanded in recent years, adding the Sounders FC in the 2009 season, with plans to add teams in Portland, OR; Vancouver, B.C. and Philadelphia, PA over the next two seasons. While attendance varies across the country, with some teams like the Sounders attracting crowds of 67,000 (yes, that is five digits), and FC Dallas seeing an average attendance of 9,288. Seattle’s regular attendance is 30,000 fans, which includes 22,000 season ticket holders. One can cast away Seattle’s figures as the result of a first-year team in a floundering sports city, or that perhaps Washingtonians are particularly un-American and just like soccer a little too much. I have another explanation. Seattle is a young town, with residents between the ages of 18-44 accounting for 50.5% of the population according to the last US census. Seattle also has a large proportion of families–a full third of Seattle’s households are family households, and half of those have children. My explanation is simple: US soccer is rooted in families and younger fans.

If anything, soccer is a sport of the youth in the US. Perhaps the product of twenty-plus years of little league soccer as a staple of middle class childhood, the sport has caught on with the most coveted Nielsen’s Ratings demographic–persons 18-49 years of age. Soccer fans in the US are likely going to be on the younger side of this range. Just look at the MLS sponsors. Of the 10 American teams with jersey sponsors, a clear pattern emerges. A good chunk of the sponsors are geared directly at a young audience. This includes Xbox Live, which sponsors Seattle, Red Bull, which sponsors New York, Best Buy, which sponsors the Chicago Fire and Xango, Salt Lake’s sponsors. The remaining sponsors are companies that target families or households. These include a number of painting companies, Amway, and Volkswagen. MLS’ fans are not Budweiser-guzzling, Lowe’s-frequenting NASCAR types. They are Red Bull-drinking, Home Depot-frequenting mom and dads, and their twenty something kids. These are the kids who watch Sportscenter every day. No real surprise then, that a soccer play is normally highlighted in the week’s top plays.

Soccer is big in the US, but isn’t the traditional sports demographic. It is an emerging demographic, that is fueled by the next two generations of Americans. While MLS doesn’t yet turn a profit, its spouse, Soccer United Marketing does. Soccer United Marketing, which holds a virtually monopoly on soccer marketing in the United States, is landing major deals with broadcasters for international soccer rights, and has attracted over a billion dollars of investment in 2004-2006 alone, according to Business Week. This money is pumped right into MLS, so the lack of profit on the league’s part is deceiving. SUM has helped to build eight soccer specific stadiums in the US for MLS. Also, SUM’s exclusive right to sell US broadcasting privileges for the upcoming World Cup means that commercially successful international soccer only helps fuel America’s own soccer league.

There is no denying that soccer has a growing place in the American sport’s lexicon. Its premier professional league is on the precipice of profitability, and it is fueled by a savvy marketing arm with a one track mission to expand. Young fans will continue to consume home grown soccer and will bring even more fans in. Next year’s World Cup will again underscore the fact that American audiences do enjoy soccer, and those all important Nielsen ratings will show it.