Coming off the heels of the stunning win over Spain and the Confederations Cup, US Soccer looked poise to grab the attention of the average American fan. You see our sports hours are already spread pretty thin between the major sports such as Football, Basketball, Baseball, and even Hockey. The victory marked one of the rare occasions that Soccer trumped these sports in the headlines.
Granted the tournament was played when basketball and football are on break and baseball is in the middle of the summer swoon but irregardless it was the number one news story. The average Joe was captivated by the play and his allegiance was ready for the taking. His attention was ripe for US Soccer to pick and to add to their small but growing fan base. The Gold Cup was the next event but that would feature the B Team as little was at stake. All eyes were drawn to the big match up with hated rival Mexico down in Mexico City on August 12th. Sports radio and even ESPN took notice of the import of this game and we prepared to do battle with an increased and attentive audience.
And then the predictable happened....
Just when it seemed that US Soccer was poised to turn the corner it was discovered that the game would not be televised on any of the major television stations. The new and growing audience will have no where decent to turn to watch this game. The US Soccer team could win the game but it will do so without the support of the millions of tepid fans that were beginning to warm up to the program. We will have the option of watching it online or on one of the Spanish language stations but how many casual fans will go to the effort?
So instead of gathering the friends together for pizza and intense soccer we will probably watch preseason football or catch up on a pennant race. The game might be great but it will probably only be watched by the same meager crowd that has staunchly supported this team despite of general apathy nationwide. A huge opportunity squandered by whoever is supposed to be bring US Soccer to the mainstream.
Maybe we still aren't ready for the nationwide debut. The performance today against Mexico might prove so. We are in the final in New York and our bleached blond squad got manhandled by the Tri. Our stadium was dominated by Red, White, and Green not Red, White, and Blue. Just further evidence that soccer has a long ways to go before we can really capture the imagination and attention of the US.
Change isn't going to happen over night. Eventually we will warm up to this sport. But US Soccer squandered a big opportunity to turn up the heat by not insuring that the big US-Mexico match was in easy reach of a huge audience that was prepared to give it a closer look. Until they get more assertive with their promotion of the sport it will continue to languish along the fringes with the likes of bowling, curling, and fencing. Badminton, anyone?
No comments:
Post a Comment