Soccer being more popular among the population of the USA

What if soccer was more popular in the United States earlier than in OTL?
A scenario where the United States had a good selection and that soccer was almost at the same level of popularity along with basketball, football and baseball.
How can we build this NTL?


I only know that the history of soccer in the USA is very recent, the MLS was founded in 1993 and the women's soccer team is excellent.
I believe that if soccer had been well invested and publicized as the others most popular sports in the USA, we would have a good selection and strong national teams, rivaling Europe and South America.
 
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What if soccer was more popular in the United States?
A scenario where the United States had a good selection and that soccer was almost at the same level of popularity along with basketball, football and baseball.
How can we build this NTL?


I only know that the history of soccer in the USA is very recent, the MLS was founded in 1993 and the women's soccer team is excellent.
I believe that if soccer had been well invested and publicized as the others most popular sports in the USA, we would have a good selection and strong national teams, rivaling Europe and South America.
Isn't it incredible popular among younger Hispanic population in US ?
 
Young Americans in general (not just Hispanic ones) are into the sport. It's really grown in popularity.

The bigger problem with the US team is that youth development is very different than in Europe and elsewhere. Americans are supporters of the idea that players should remain amateurs until at least the end of their secondary schooling (age 18). That model can work for sports like baseball and basketball, but isn't so good for soccer. Also, elite young players usually have to go on "travel teams" where you have to pay to play, which excludes a good portion of the population.
 
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After the declaration of the extension of civil rights to the mixed race population of Haiti if both parents were free, there was a lot of talk among the white slaveowners in St. Domingue of declaring independence from France and they believed that the slaveowners of the American South would be very supportive of them. In the end the governor simply refused to comply with the order, but the whites did not declare independence and soon revolution came to Haiti. Maybe if the slave owners declare independence Thomas Jefferson can convince Washington that helping the rebels in new republic of St. Domingue is in the best interest of of the young Republic. With American backing, the slaveowners put down the initial rebellion in the north of the island, but there position is precarious and they petition for statehood, which pisses France off, but they were already pissed off. St. Domingue becomes a state and the Catholic slave owning elite integrate well into American society. As a result the aversion of Catholics is considerably less than it was IOTL and the US expands more into the Hispanic world. As a result of this expansion that US has a larger population that plays soccer and cross cultural exchange leads to the sport taking off in the American South.
 

Jasen777

Donor
1. Football dies off due to violence instead of being reformed in the '00s (19- of course).

2. ?????

3. ?????

4. Soccer is the 2nd largest sport (behind baseball).
 
Read the history of Ameican soccer. It was popular up until the Depression. There were two competing leagues that fell apart due to mismanagement. I think the US team even made the semifinals at the World Cup around this time. Even after world war 2 there were still some native followers that helped found AYSO in the 60s (or 70s), which directly contributed to its current popularity.
 
OTL "Soccer" is growing quite large in the US right. I'm Irish, and yet I'm finding the MLS enjoyable to follow now that it's entered the "MLS 3.0 era" as it's referred to.

MLS 1.0 was the 90s era of the MLS, when the MLS tried to build off the World Cup being hosted in Atlanta in 1994. It was a very amateur era for the MLS.
MLS 2.0 began roughly in the 00s when David Beckham was signed to the LA Galaxy, kick starting the "designated player" era of the MLS, where the clubs were allowed make one major signing outside of the limits normally enforced by the league on wages. This era would be the era of much better infrastructure being introduced into the league, and star international players joining MLS teams for short spells.

We're now in MLS 3.0
MLS 3.0 is this wonderful new era of the MLS, where the teams are now highly professional, well staffed, and have awesome facilities and stadiums. What the MLS has discovered through it's history is that a proper stadium really makes a massive difference to potential fans, and it's now essentially a requirement for any team joining the MLS to have a large, modern stadium that's SPECIFICALLY built for soccer/football, and not shared with other sports, as was often down in the early days.

MLS 3.0 is noted for having better players and more support than ever before, particularly teams such as Orlando SC (owned in part by none other than a returning David Beckham), the Portland Timbers, and the newly founded Atlanta United, who in their very first game had an incredible attendance of 50,000 people (the 3rd highest attended football/soccer match that week anywhere in the world).

The MLS enjoys high popularity with middle class millennials who do not have long standing ties to NFL teams, and Hispanic communities, who continue to grow quite large in numerous states across the US. What I've been hearing in many cases, now that the MLS is quite professional, many young people who are new to an area love to get behind expansion teams that begin in their new home, as it helps them integrate into the community. So for example I'm hearing anecdotically Atlanta United has huge support amongst those who now live in ATL, but were not born in the city.

But besides the rapidly growing success of the MLS, I've been noting now for many years as a European the growing interest Americans have in the US men's national team. Again, soccer seems to quite appeal to young demographics, as I witnessed during the lass world cup via the internet. I was blown away by the support the USMNT had on the internet, particularly the support for goalkeeper Tim Howard. What I observed is that Americans seemed really, really intrigued by the international competition provided by the World Cup, which typically they don't get with domestic sports such as the NFL. They really liked the concept of an American team going up against the likes of England, France, Germany etc. It was a new, thrilling experience for them.

New Media really, really seem to open their eyes up to soccer/football in a way where old media might be reluctant to. New media, especially during the World Cup, brought a lot of raw excitement about the USMNT, whereas I sense old media is reluctant to be as unabashed about it.

Personally I'm very curious about the cultural/anthropological effect of soccer/football on American culture in the next 20 years. In particular I'm SUPER curious about Atlanta United. The fact that ATL UTD is so popular already in the South, which once upon a time (and still is) would be been very, very steeped in American football, is so interesting. ATL UTD is owned by Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcon, and United share the Falcon team colours, which is rare and wonder moment of unity in American sports. My personal view is that if the MLS can plant a team as popular as ATL UTD seems in the south, they can do it anywhere in America.

I personally will be monitoring American responses to World Cup 2018 with intensity, because I really do feel the combination of the internet and the MLS' growing professionalism has really opened the door to success in the States.
 
Personally I'm very curious about the cultural/anthropological effect of soccer/football on American culture in the next 20 years. In particular I'm SUPER curious about Atlanta United. The fact that ATL UTD is so popular already in the South, which once upon a time (and still is) would be been very, very steeped in American football, is so interesting.

Note that it's quite common for people in North America to passionately follow multiple teams representing their home city/region, so these two sports are not necessarily competing for fan support.

The Atlanta metropolitan area is huge - it has about the same population as the entire island of Ireland. So it has room for a soccer club.
 
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Also, elite young players usually have to go on "travel teams" where you have to pay to play, which excludes a good portion of the population.

That's true for most sports, though. I know it is for softball and baseball, while basketball typically feeds through the prep school system.

At least in softball, what you play for in schooling is (most of the time) irrelevant to where you end up. Sure, there are certain schools that are known for producing good athletes, but for the most part, it's tournament play where the college coaches recruit.
 
That's true for most sports, though. I know it is for softball and baseball, while basketball typically feeds through the prep school system.

At least in softball, what you play for in schooling is (most of the time) irrelevant to where you end up. Sure, there are certain schools that are known for producing good athletes, but for the most part, it's tournament play where the college coaches recruit.

That is the thing. This model (long amateurism and travel teams) which can function well for other sports, doesn't work as well for producing high-quality soccer players. There seems to be a critical period for skill development (somewhere around the pre-teen to early teen years) where a player really needs intensive instruction, and American players don't get that.

While an American kid is playing for his high school and traveling in the summer with his team (competing against other kids of that precise age), his European counterparts are in the youth section of professional clubs, and when they're good enough, move up to the senior team.
 
As always say before, college must adopt it allongside or over the rugby code would evolved into (American) Football, college would give incentives and a fanbase and tradition to the sport, slowly adopting into young leagues to professional ones(MLS/NS/FL) and so on, slowly evolving, plus a better develop league since the 20's(alongside nfl) would help.
 
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