Look at Brazil, football/soccer came in 1895 in a country with a population much smaller than in the United States and with the same size in area, was restricted to white elite until the decade of 20 and only after 1933 did it begin the professionalization. You would first have to invest in the regional tournaments, starting to found state leagues and then with the help of business, press and government and logically with improved means of transportation, national tournament. In Brazil, at the end of the decade of 10, football began to separate from tennis and cricket, which were widely practiced by the elite, and in the 20's started to reach the main population, the poorest people and especially the Blacks, which began to be accepted in several clubs, this was essential.
An interesting fact was the relationship between trade union leaders and football. Just as he had not been sympathetically received by the intellectual elite, so had the working class. The trade union leadership of the time, composed mostly of anarchists and communists, viewed sport with suspicion as a form of alienation produced by factory owners to divert the attention of the proletariat to the cause of the working class. For such leaders, football was merely an expression of the consumerist and alienating manipulation of the bourgeoisie. The relationship with the union leaders began to change from the decade of 1910, when the leaderships began to realize that they could raise members to the cause anarchist / communist through the sport. Thus, they became common events that, to publicize the working doctrine, used as a pretext matches between workers' teams. This was how in 1919 the Workers' Festival of 1919 was created, where teams formed by the workers disputed friendly among themselves.
An interesting fact was the relationship between trade union leaders and football. Just as he had not been sympathetically received by the intellectual elite, so had the working class. The trade union leadership of the time, composed mostly of anarchists and communists, viewed sport with suspicion as a form of alienation produced by factory owners to divert the attention of the proletariat to the cause of the working class. For such leaders, football was merely an expression of the consumerist and alienating manipulation of the bourgeoisie. The relationship with the union leaders began to change from the decade of 1910, when the leaderships began to realize that they could raise members to the cause anarchist / communist through the sport. Thus, they became common events that, to publicize the working doctrine, used as a pretext matches between workers' teams. This was how in 1919 the Workers' Festival of 1919 was created, where teams formed by the workers disputed friendly among themselves.