Spring Break
Column (Jamie Kapalko): Hispanic influence to make soccer American sport
Dominating prescence of Latino fans and leagues is clear indicator
Jamie Kapalko
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Sports
Electrified fans packed the stands. Reliant Stadium rocked fiercely with their cheers. As they groaned, the stadium sank into the marshy Houston earth. As they celebrated, it rose, weightless and shook. Only the rectangle of turf in the middle of the mayhem stayed still.
Serious soccer supporters could have almost felt validated that night last week, watching the U.S. national team playing in front of these fans. Most American sports fans laugh at the idea of serious soccer catching on here. Sure, we watch the World Cup, if baseball's not on. We're vaguely familiar with Freddy Adu and Landon Donovan. But soccer will never be American in the way that football, baseball and basketball are. It's boring, the rules don't make sense and the players act like babies when they fall.
But at this soccer game, played in our country, how could anyone deny that the sport has a real presence here?
They danced, they cheered and they chanted. They love soccer, and they love their team. They shouted it for anyone within a 100-mile radius to hear:
"Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!"
The stadium held 70,103 people. And most of them were wearing green.
"It's nice [for Mexico] to have two home countries to play in," said U.S. defender Carlos Bocanegra the last time the two teams met on U.S. soil. How could he, or any other American player, not be a little bit jealous?
In 2007 both the Mexican and the U.S. national teams played in the United States 12 times (matching up against each other twice). The average attendance at Mexico's games was 53,207, according to the Los Angeles Times. The average attendance at the U.S. games? 32,754.
The 2010 and 2014 World Cups will be broadcast in the United States in English and Spanish. Univision paid $325 million for the rights to the Spanish-language broadcasts. Disney coughed up $100 million to show the English versions on ABC and ESPN.
"There's a quote from French philosopher Auguste Comte that 'demography is destiny,' and it's pretty apropos to what's happening in this country," said Will Wilson, executive vice president of Soccer United Marketing. "It's very hard to deny the demographic shift that's happened in the U.S. over the last 10 or 15 years. The high percentage of Mexicans who are part of that shift means the demand for soccer has grown exponentially."
Serious soccer supporters could have almost felt validated that night last week, watching the U.S. national team playing in front of these fans. Most American sports fans laugh at the idea of serious soccer catching on here. Sure, we watch the World Cup, if baseball's not on. We're vaguely familiar with Freddy Adu and Landon Donovan. But soccer will never be American in the way that football, baseball and basketball are. It's boring, the rules don't make sense and the players act like babies when they fall.
But at this soccer game, played in our country, how could anyone deny that the sport has a real presence here?
They danced, they cheered and they chanted. They love soccer, and they love their team. They shouted it for anyone within a 100-mile radius to hear:
"Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!"
The stadium held 70,103 people. And most of them were wearing green.
"It's nice [for Mexico] to have two home countries to play in," said U.S. defender Carlos Bocanegra the last time the two teams met on U.S. soil. How could he, or any other American player, not be a little bit jealous?
In 2007 both the Mexican and the U.S. national teams played in the United States 12 times (matching up against each other twice). The average attendance at Mexico's games was 53,207, according to the Los Angeles Times. The average attendance at the U.S. games? 32,754.
The 2010 and 2014 World Cups will be broadcast in the United States in English and Spanish. Univision paid $325 million for the rights to the Spanish-language broadcasts. Disney coughed up $100 million to show the English versions on ABC and ESPN.
"There's a quote from French philosopher Auguste Comte that 'demography is destiny,' and it's pretty apropos to what's happening in this country," said Will Wilson, executive vice president of Soccer United Marketing. "It's very hard to deny the demographic shift that's happened in the U.S. over the last 10 or 15 years. The high percentage of Mexicans who are part of that shift means the demand for soccer has grown exponentially."
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