Patrick Sayers

English 2010
Jim Beatty
July 30 2016
Why Should Americans Care About Soccer?
Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world, and it can provide tremendous
benefits on many different levels. Individuals, families, towns and cities have the opportunities to
be benefactors, in both social and financial ways. America has the opportunity to capitalize on
the global popularity of the sport, develop its own professional league, create a successful and
supportive youth system, all while become a global soccer power that can rival the best leagues
in the world. This success would give the U.S a tremendous amount of power to be a positive
social impact in the lives of youths in America. The country would also receive huge financial
gains, which if reinvested properly would allow those who choose to get involved to reap
rewards. To understand the possibilities, it could mean for the U.S. and understand the
importance of soccer, one must first understand the history of the game. The success of soccer in
America all depends on whether or not Americans are willing to pay attention to soccer and
invest the same amount of time and energy they put into American Football, and other sports in
the U.S.
Soccer is one of the largest businesss in the world and its time for the U.S. to start
making money off the game. Soccer is a sport most Americans dont care about and many will
even say they hate. Believe it or not, many people in the rest of the world dont love soccer, they
participate in other sports like swimming, golf, cycling, or cricket just to name a few. Of course
there are many other ways for people, their communities, and business to make money other than
off soccer. Theres certainly other ways to create positive social environments, and encourage

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physical activity. Its the possibility to use soccer to do both at the same time, or kill two birds
with one stone as the saying goes, that makes it such a worthwhile investment, and is the main
reason individuals in the U.S. should get more involved in the sport. If Americans are willing to
put in a little time and energy of their own now, they will be able to benefit from the global
popularity of soccer.
Imagine soccer as the NFL, but instead of just Americans, people in every country would
care about the sport, watch the sport, and have huge groups of passionate fans. Companies would
therefor invest large amounts for TV broadcast deals to bring the American league, currently
called Major League Soccer or MLS, to their countries just like the world does now with the
English Premier League from England. (Lue, Merchant and Nash). This would increase demand
for American teams and their players to go on preseason tours to foreign countries, helping to
further spread the message of the league as well as the ability of the league to provide a positive
impact on people lives. It would also give children inside the U.S and millions around the world
a goal to work towards, a healthy, physical goal at that. To capitalize on this huge opportunity,
the U.S must focus the same amount of time and energy on soccer the way the country does on
more its popular sports like the American football, basketball, or even golf. (Kuper and
Symanski). America has poured money into these sports, and the development of the sports at
the youth level. If the same is done for soccer, which is a much cheaper sport for families and
communities to get involved in, the sport will spread and develop extremely quickly. With
investment, its lack of expense, and popularity will help the U.S. to develop one of the most
visible soccer leagues in the world. Once the U.S has a visible soccer league of its own, the
whole country will be able to use the global popularity of the sport and the finical benefits from
that to help all of the American sports and the countries citizens. To take advantage the U.S. must
put invest time and energy into developing its league, the MLS.
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The MLS is only 20 years old, and has managed to come a long way in that time (U.S.
SOCCER). The league has already been able to attract some of the bigger names in the sport and
teams have been able to schedule friendly matches with some of the biggest clubs in the world,
like the recent game between the Italian Club Inter Milan and RSL (RSL Schedule). Many of
these teams are playing in leagues that have been established for fifty or even one hundred years.
The MLS has doubled in size, agreed to add a 21s expansion team, and has between 10 and 12
cities putting in proposals, all vying for four more expansion spots (U.S. SOCCER). The MLS,
and soccer in America started very slowly, but the world, and many Americans and American
businesses are starting to take notice of the sport. If investment and support continue and the
decisions made by those in charge of the league are made honestly, the whole country should
benefit.
Cities and the economy as a whole would see an injection from investors and companies
as the visibility and popularity of the league grew. Expansion will also help provide more jobs
for locals, and help increase demand at other local business. Right now Real Salt Lake stadium
holds just over 20,000 (RSL Communications). Thats an extra 20,000 potential customers for
businesses in the area on game nights. Restaurants, bars, and even convenience stores get more
business when there are that many extra people in Sandy. I have friends who wont go anywhere
near the liqure store on RSL game days because of the crowd. Business who are willing to invest
or advertise will see even more business in return. Chick-fil-A gives free sandwiches away to
customers whenever the team scores 3 or more goals and a huge number of fans and families
stop by the restaurant after games in which they do. The increase in business on game nights will
most likely also require more employees helping to provide more local jobs as well. If local
businesses are willing to support their teams their injection of money into the sport will help the
sport grow both locally and nationally. They will also be helping themselves by furthering the
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cycle of team development, its facilities, and the platform for businesses to advertise. As the
popularity of the sport and team grows within the city it gives the business in that city a great
boost.
Small businesses can choose to get involved in the sport at the local level cheaply, but the
national and global popularity of the sport will allow for huge brand awareness (Kuper and
Symanski). The NBA and NFL have passed the point where local businesses can get involved
and really benefit financially. The U.S. must encourage local support, and then the MLS as a
league must continue capitalize on its growth. To do so the league must continue to ensure teams
invest and expand wisely. The focus must be put on the players, and the training facilities
increasing the leagues visibility. As it grows and appeal to sponsors increases it will bring in
even more financial input, especially from abroad. The MLS will then be able to begin to put
money that is invested from other countries into its own league, facilities, players, and
employees. This would only further the development of the league, starting a repeating circle of
development of players, stadiums, surrounding communities and the league in general. With a
large population, many of who are immigrants from countries where soccer is the most popular
sport, and a country where many of whom have access to television and thus can be turned into
fans, even if they dont want to play soccer, the U.S. is the perfect target audience (Kuper and
Symanski).
If investment into the sport of soccer, and its facilities continues to increase there will be
huge benefits to young children, their families and communities. Soccer is a team sport, giving
young children a reason to be active and meet new people. Many teams now hold camps in the
summer for young children, which are often free, as a way to find new talent (RSL Clinics).
These camps provide parents with a great opportunity to get their children out of the house, to be
physical, and make new friends. Soccer can be something new to them, or something they love,
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but it lets kids participate at little or no cost to parents. Its worth parents looking into, even if its
just to get a free babysitter for a week. These camps are great ways for children to develop traits
and skills that will make them and their communities a better place.
To continue using an examples that are close to home, Real Salt Lake recently revealed
plans to build a new fifty-million-dollar training complex with 8 soccer fields (RSL
Communications). This would provide space and training facilities for under 21, under 18 and
under 16 teams, as well as fields to host even more camps and other events for children to raise
interest in and around Salt Lake City. This same release revealed plans to create an RSL academy
program that would integrate more than 60 thousand players, coaches and referees and provide
close to jobs at the facility. There are also plans to build up close to 1000 homes and apartment
buildings in the area surrounding the new training complex (RSL Communications). If the league
is expanded properly and money is invested wisely, these are just some of the ways that investing
in soccer can help individuals their families, and communities. Expanding the sport on a local
level and giving thousands of soccer enthusiasts, whether players, referees, or coaches, a
platform to expand their skills is by far one of the biggest ways to develop the sport. The huge
benefits that it would mean for the city, state and country, all depend on people getting paying
attention to, and getting involved with soccer in America. If people are willing to care enough to
put time in, the whole economy would see a boost from the increased popularity of the sport.
The benefits for young children, their families and communities all depends on smart
investment, but it has to start now, and there has to be public interest behind it. The U.S must
develop a healthy, competitive youth system and transfer system that can interact with the rest of
the word. Soccer is extremely cheap, which is one of the reasons it, more than any other sport
anyone can get involved. Children often use sports as escapes or releases from stresses of life,
whether it be school, work or home. All it takes is a little effort from to create a development
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system designed to help children. The skilled athletic youth of today will be the stars of
tomorrow, so a system that helps those children interact, have fun, and stay healthy cheaply will
help the league to grow quickly and to its full potential, bringing it to the same level as the top
soccer leagues in the world. Once MLS has the ability to draw the best candidates who are
applying to jobs in different sectors of soccer, as well as the best players, coaches and sponsors,
those who choose to support and get involved in the sport will have even more opportunity to
benefit.
Its time for the people in America to really start to care about soccer, and put some
energy and effort into development, or else they wont see returns. Sign your kids up for youth or
summer camps, get some tickets and go watch a game, even wait just one more minute before
you change the channel next time you notice a soccer game is on. Soccer has the ability to
provide thousands of jobs and tremendous social and physical benefits to the citizens of our
country. As the league expands, so will the possible benefits to Americans, their families and
communities. Much of the investment could come from abroad and foreign companies looking to
be a part of a new and expanding market but the U.S and its citizens must fully embrace Major
League Soccer and the sport of soccer in America to get the returns.

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Works Cited
Chaudhary, Vivek. How the Premier League's Record TV Deal Will Impact Football in England.
25 July 2016. 25 July 2016. <http://www.espnfc.us/english-premierleague/23/blog/post/2917119/how-premier-league-record-tv-deal-will-affect-englishfootball>.
Kuper, Simon and Stefan Symanski. Soccernomics. New York City: Nation Books, A Member Of
The Perseus Books Group, 2014.
Lue, David, et al. The Money. 2015. 10 July 2016. <https://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/researchprojects/mediamarketsfootball-in-contemporary-europe/the-money/>.
RSL Clinics. RSL Youth Clinics. July 2016. 28 July 2016. <http://www.rsl.com/Youth-SoccerClinics>.
RSL Communications. RSL Reveals Plans For a New Herriman-Based Training Complex. 9
April 2016. 29 July 2016. <http://www.rsl.com/post/2016/04/09/real-salt-lake-unveilsplans-herriman-based-training-complex>.
RSL Schedule. 2016 Schedule. 1 July 2016. 29 July 2016. <http://www.rsl.com/schedule>.
U.S. SOCCER. U.S.A Soccer. 2016. 12 July 2016.
<http://www.ussoccer.com/about/history/timeline>.