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.

Needless to say, Beckham was greeted with a mixed reaction to say the least, with several anti-Beckham signs in the stands and certainly a good amount of booing. Just before half-time Beckham went over to the stands where some particularly raucous fans were shouting at him, allegedly to shake their hands, and things turned a bit ugly. Before I get into anything else, this was inordinately stupid of Beckham. Why would you ever try and interact with the fans that are hating on you? That can only go poorly, and sure enough it did. Becks has never exactly been Albert Einstein, and he sure demonstrated that yesterday. Just a poor, poor decision from the England international.

But what I really want to talk about here is why the fans are justified in giving Beckham the treatment he got last night. In some ways, this is partially caused by some culture differences, at least at the sporting level. European soccer players tend to be a bit more vocal regarding their own opinions of whatever situation they may be in. They seek new teams, criticize those around them and ask for increased salaries at a far more public level than athletes do in the United States. Sure, on occassion we do hear of players requesting a trade, but by and large players are signed by an organization, paid money, and they go out and play for them until they are told otherwise. So the fact that Beckham became disillusioned with life Hollywood and decided to seek out an actual football club was rather surprising to fans, or surprising that it would have happened already. See, another key difference between Europe and the U.S. is the importance placed on contracts. Apparently, European contracts mean next to nothing, while in the United States they are everything. Therefore most Americans see the whole process of being ended by the fact that Beckham’s contract isn’t finished, therefore, he must stay. Unfortunately, the MLS is in a place where it must adopt to European ways and mannerisms, and not the other way around.

But do not let Beckham off the hook for this reason. Despite the custom, the fact is that Beckham signed a contract making almost twice as much money as Alex Rodriguez each season, and has barely played for the team in the grand scheme of things. He was supposed to be the savior, the one to legitimize the MLS, and he has decided that responsibility was not something he wanted anymore. While Steve asserts this issue is mostly due to personnel decisions with the Galaxy, I fault Beckham. His ambassadorship of European football to the MLS has been a complete waste of time and money. It’s unfortunate that a man of his wealth and calibre took advantage of such a feeble league for his own selfish reasons. No one forced him to make the move to the U.S., but once he did, he was committed.

So if I was a Galaxy fan, or a fan of the MLS in general, I would feel betrayed by the English star. And I would be mad. Expect more of the same Beckham, you’re not making anyone happier.