Major League Soccer deserves more attention from Americans

Soccer in the U.S. is not as important as other sports like football or baseball. But it should be. Everywhere else it’s known as football, but in the U.S. it’s soccer because football is a completely different sport. Major League Soccer (MLS) is rapidly growing in popularity both in participation and interest. This is not a “retirement” league anymore. Now, players come to this league to play high-quality soccer. Young-talented players are moving to this league to increase their level and hope that’ll help them jump to play in Europe. Therefore, MLS should get more media attention and more interest from Americans. Fans from other sports should also follow soccer as it evolves in the upcoming years.

For instance, in Argentina, soccer is like a religion to them. People do anything they can to watch a soccer match and support their favorite teams. They even missed work on the past Copa Libertadores Final between Boca Juniors and their rivals River Plate. Why can’t that soccer culture be cultivated in the U.S?

The league is attracting big worldwide soccer stars to come play in this league like Zlatan Ibrahimović (Appearances: 751; Goals: 460 in his career), Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez (Appearances: 424; Goals: 156 in his career), Wayne Rooney (Appearances: 744; Goals: 310 in his career), and Carlos Vela (Appearances: 428; Goals: 147 in his career). Also, young star players like the 26-year-old Mexican international Rodolfo Pizarro, who became a franchise player for the new team in MLS, Inter Miami F.C.

Teams invest in high-quality stadiums and training facilities that allows players to perform and showcase their skills. In the last 10 years, a total of 13 new stadiums have been built. The newest ones are: Inter Miami Stadium (2020), Allianz Field (2019), Audi Field (2018), and the Banc of California Stadium (2018). They also focus on their youth development programs to bring in new and young talent to their first division teams.

The league currently has expanded to 26 teams, with Inter Miami F.C and Nashville SC the newest teams for the 2020 season. While Austin F.C will come to board next year to become the 27^th team in the league. The league initially started with 10 teams in 1996 and grew to 12 teams in 1998. In the last five years a total of seven new teams have been added to the league.

According to a study conducted by the CIES Football Observatory, Major League Soccer’s average attendance from 2013-18 was 21,358; a 34% increase in five years. Atlanta United, the 2018 MLS Cup winners, has the 10 highest single-game attendance with 51,547 since 2017. Atlanta debuted in 2017 and ever since then their stadium has reached its maximum capacity for 13 games since their inaugural season.

TV viewership has gone up over the years as well. ESPN, FOX Sports, Univision, TSN, and TVA are the official MLS broadcast partners. The 2019 MLS Cup was televised on ABC which was something atypical for the fans. It delivered 823,000 viewers outnumbering the previous MLS Cup televised on a Disney network (803,000 viewers on ESPN in 2017).

These numbers are nothing compared to the 99.9 million people that watched the last Superbowl. However, it’s growth. It shows that the passion for the sport is evolving. Millions of people prefer to watch football or baseball than watch an MLS game in the U.S. According to a Gallup poll in 2017, 37% of Americans prefer to watch American football, 11% prefer to watch basketball, 9% prefer baseball, and only 7% prefer to watch soccer. Even those who likes to watch soccer prefer to watch other leagues like the English Premier League. According to NBC, more than 35 million Americans watched the EPL in 2018-2019.

MLS is moving a step closer each season to become a top soccer league in the world by adopting the European style of operations. The quality of infrastructure, quality of players, and quality of club facilities are making this league stand out. Also, the well-known sponsorship partners are helping boost up the league to the next level; for instance, all MLS teams are sponsored by Adidas.

The future is bright for MLS, but there needs to be a change in the way Americans look at soccer. Sports’ fans should embrace soccer as a top sport in the U.S. This will help the league move towards a top-tier soccer league and it will increase its popularity among Americans. The more people get involved and invested into the league, the better reputation it will have.