Sporting fans around the globe are leaving work early (or not going at all), buying new T.V.’s, gathering in groups and basically ignoring the rest of their responsibilities for the next 4 weeks as the 2006 FIFA World Cup winds its way through Germany to the finals on July 9th in Berlin. I am leaving for Germany in 10 days and will be fortunate enough to catch some of the action first hand in what is without a doubt the most popular event in the most popular sport in the world – football. And I am not talking about touchdowns and pads here folks. La Copa Mondial draws a staggering number of viewers. It is estimated that there was a cumulative audience of nearly 29 billion during the last cup tournament in South Korea and over 1 billion tuned in to watch powerhouse Brazil beat Germany 2-0, dwarfing viewership of the Super Bowl which snared a relatively sparse 140 million viewers.
So why is everyone outside of America so excited about the Cup and most people inside America clueless to what it even is? I played the sport in the youth leagues back in California and Shoppman played in high school here in Colorado. I think it would be safe to bet that the majority of kids in this country, male and female, played some organized form of the game at some point or another, yet the interest and viewership has never experienced any real success here. A poll of sports fans in the U.S. revealed that only 10% plan to follow the Cup action and over 65% didn’t even know where it was being played. The U.S. men’s team made it through 2 year of qualification matches to make the final cut of 32 teams in Germany and will be representing America in the world greatest sporting spectacle, however, in a country that likes to flex its muscles and show everyone how great it is, support for the U.S. team is virtually non-existent.
I have done some thinking and can posit a few ideas as to why the sport enjoys such a low level of enthusiasm here in the U.S.
1) The sport is an import. Americans didn’t event the game and therefore, there is a built in resistance to it. We even had the arrogance to come up with another name for the sport – soccer. On the other hand, American football, basketball and baseball enjoy huge popularity in this country.
2) If it doesn’t happen here in America, it doesn’t tend to exist. The media coverage is getting better, but is still lacking – the best coverage right now is on the Spanish language networks and something tells me "Joe Six Pack" won’t be willing to sit through that even though the commentary is some of the most energetic in all of sport. GOOOAAAALLLL!!!!
3) It doesn’t cater to the score hard, score often, offense, offense, offense mentality of the American sports nut. Football is a a defensive sport as evidenced by low scores and if there is not a lot of scoring going on, even that Ritalin scrip won’t help most people out, even though the players are some of the most athletically gifted individuals around.
4) Finally, it doesn’t help when the U.S. enters Cup play with a number 5 ranking and ends up getting embarrassed by the Czech Republic 3-0 in their first match with a strong Italian team on deck, leaving them with little chance of surviving Group Play.
For a sport that throughout the world signifies so many powerful things above and beyond the game itself – pride, patriotism, nationalism, unity, etc. it is ironic that people in the U.S. are so disinterested in it. The viability of the sport in America I think does and will continue to reside with immigrants who bring the energy and enthusiasm with them from their home cultures… that is unless we decide to build that wall and isolate ourselves even further from the scary outside world and it’s strange traditions.
