3 of 5 major sports US attendance records set at Big House
baseball & hoops....you're next.
Michigan Stadium now holds the U.S. attendance record for football, hockey, and soccer competitions.
— Drew Hallett (@DrewCHallett) August 2, 2014
Somewhere in an executive athletic suite, Brandon pours a glass of bourbon and lights a cigar, smirking and kicking his legs up on the desk.
Soccer isn't a major sport. At least in the US.
Good point...I compromised with a "3 of 5"
+100 points to you, you history knowledgeable bastard!
Didn't the US's World Cup games just put up better viewer ratings than the Super Bowl?
I do know that the 2014 World Cup ratings were about 40% above the 2010 ratings in the US. Per the Holltwood Reporter, the final match averaged 17.3 million viewers on ABC, which is phenomenal for soccer here and makes it the 3rd most watched soccer game in US history, as I recall. It might not have been that game, but I do believe that Forbes ran a story about how the US / Germany match actually eclipsed (slightly) the ratings of the 2014 Super Bowl, if that's what you were referencing (I don't recall specifically where they got the numbers).
I might've been misremembering the fact about the NBA finals that another poster brought up, but doesn't that make an argument for it being a major sport? Is the free market not as good a crucible as anything to designate these things?
in the US population will do that.
August 2nd, 2014 at 11:24 PM ^
football fans. The change won't hurt the NFL so much as it will hurt baseball and hockey.
August 3rd, 2014 at 12:05 AM ^
The 2014 Super Bowl was the most watched event in US history. I highly doubt Germany-US came anywhere near that,.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/super-bowl-2014-ratings-set-new-record/
PS: Yep, not even close. Germany-US drew 18,000,000 versus the 111,000,000 of the Super Bowl.
That does not mean it is a major sport in this country.
What does? I paid 100 bucks to see a qualifier last year and some absurd proportion of American kids play... What qualifies it as a make sport, other than your arbitrary categorization?
Oh, I don't know. Maybe popularity? In general, this country does not gives two shits about soccer and that is a fact.
How can you possibly call that a fact when the World Cup was as popular as it was? And there are many people in this country that care about the sport all year round, which is why they're selling out venues all over the country to watch a foreign league.
quadrennially and is only viewed in relevant numbers those days that team USA is playing. When there are 30 professional soccer teams in the USA, playing twice a week, and they achieve at least the same average viewership of the NBA you will have a great argument to make.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:31 PM ^
false equivalence argument. A better argument would be to compare the US soccer leagues with European Ice Hockey, especially the Swedish Hockey League. For all intents and purposes the MLS is a minor league for the EPL, La Liga, and Bundesliga. Just like the SHL is a minor league for the NHL and the KHL.
Going by ratings I would put soccer in this country at the level of the ice hockey and above NASCAR and Golf.
However, I fail to see the point of denigrating other people's interests. The nobody cares about soccer meme is old. Guess what 98% of this planet doesn't give a shit about college football or the NFL.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:45 PM ^
it doesn't fit your meme? The question was about popularity in the states relative to the other major US sports, not relative to minor sports in Europe.
no you made a false equivalence argument. MLS will always be a minor league in this country.
but but but...it's a major sport, I thought!
But 98% of the planet doesn't read MGoBlog. The people who do much prefer college football.
I'm not saying that's a reason for soccer to not be discussed. But don't tell me soccer is more important to all of us because people in Croatia or Sierra Leone fucking love it.
College football is a niche sport global. That is a fact.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:31 PM ^
false equivalence argument. A better argument would be to compare the US soccer leagues with European Ice Hockey, especially the Swedish Hockey League. For all intents and purposes the MLS is a minor league for the EPL, La Liga, and Bundesliga. Just like the SHL is a minor league for the NHL and the KHL.
Going by ratings I would put soccer in this country at the level of the ice hockey and above NASCAR and Golf.
However, I fail to see the point of denigrating other people's interests. The nobody cares about soccer meme is old. Guess what 98% of this planet doesn't give a shit about college football or the NFL.
There is not a chance in hell soccer is more popular than golf in this country. Golf is at its all-time popularity level in the USA, which is much higher than soccer.
Want to bet? Nobody watches the Accenture championship.
and no one watches MLS on a regular basis and REALLY cares.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:31 PM ^
false equivalence argument. A better argument would be to compare the US soccer leagues with European Ice Hockey, especially the Swedish Hockey League. For all intents and purposes the MLS is a minor league for the EPL, La Liga, and Bundesliga. Just like the SHL is a minor league for the NHL and the KHL.
Going by ratings I would put soccer in this country at the level of the ice hockey and above NASCAR and Golf.
However, I fail to see the point of denigrating other people's interests. The nobody cares about soccer meme is old. Guess what 98% of this planet doesn't give a shit about college football or the NFL.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:26 PM ^
Ratings from the last two world cups, the EPL, Champions League, and world cup qualifying disprove your vast ignorance.
Are the ratings for those in the US all that high? Higher than a comparable game/tournament in another sport?
Yes. World Cup ratings for the US have been comparable to those of US Olympic hockey games, some club soccer games (in the Mexican league) dwarf Stanley Cup Finals ratings, MLS games often approach NHL levels. There's actually very little to suggest that hockey is more popular than soccer, the argument rests largely on revenue.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:24 PM ^
thankfully changing demographics mean closed minded individuals like you are a dying breed.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:24 PM ^
thankfully changing demographics mean closed minded individuals like you are a dying breed.
August 2nd, 2014 at 11:19 PM ^
You're not so good at the posting, are you?
I am sorry my internet was sucking you asshole.
Better than the NBA Finals games, nowhere close to touching the Super Bowl.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:56 PM ^
The MLS cup finals had half a million viewers. I think the Tigers do that on a Tuesday game. "but mls aren't the best". Well college football players are "amateurs" and I'm sure the bcs bowl game blew that out. Soccer is getting more popular but it's not a major sport in the US.
Not finding that on any of the the Google search results. They apparently won on online viewership, but comparing ESPN3 to whatever it is that Fox does isn't exactly revealing. They're off by about a factor of ten from the Super Bowl.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:50 PM ^
Put the viewership of an mls game vs nfl and see how soccer matches up. Yes once every 4 years people watch US soccer to yell USA! USA! but I don't know too many people that watched Germany and Argentina.
There are many ways to argue against this opinion. Anything that relates to the historical popularity of soccer in the US might be your only point, and thus the tradition making it a major sport here doesn't yet exist. But I think that would be a wrong arguement.
FACTS:
- MLS avg attendance in 2013 (which has since risen in 2014): 18,733
- NHL avg attendance in 2013: 17,455
- NBA avg attendance in 2013: 17,273
- 2014 World Cup TV viewing ratings were higher than NBA, NHL, and MLB chapmionship series (only NFL Super Bowl was higher)
- MLS has fastest growing fan base in US - all pro sports
- MLS is the fastest expanding sport in the US. Many cities are fighting over who will get the next several expansion teams.
- Soccer TV contracts in the US are exploding (OK, started small, so much room to grow, but still).
It's a major sport in basically every category that measures fan/viewership. Where is falls behind the others is (American born) non-sports fans awareness of the sport b/c it has a much shorter history. And the 2014 World Cup might have tipped the scale on that as well.
Accept it. The sport is here for good now.
2022!
Russia on 2018, just gotta love FIFA
I think he was implying Qatar will be striped of the 2022 World Cup...
I doubt it. The field is brely big enough to the point where the teams and coaches must be in the stands and FIFA hates stadiums with bleachers instead of individual seats. I mean, I suppose it's a possibility but The Big House has a lot of things working against it. It's an outdoor stadium and the field turf is not very good for soccer (as a number of players have been complaining about it).
It's fine for friendly or club play, but the regulations for international play are much stricter.
August 2nd, 2014 at 11:54 PM ^
Moreover, the WC final is not going to be in the state of Michigan. There's more that goes into these decisions than just the size of the stadium.
Michigan pretty much owns the top-30 crowds in Football
Michigan Stadium owns the top-3 Division II crowds.
1979 Slippery Rock-Shippensburg, 2004 GVSU-Michigan Tech, 1981 Slippery Rock-Wayne State
The less-known Bash at The Big House
Wonder if the NFL would play a game there to set the attendance record. Could be amazing for a Lions-Packers Thanksgiving game or other game. Fanbases that aren't too far from there, don't mind watching games outside in the freezing cold, and while Detroit may not have a crazy waitlist for tickets the Packers do and I'm sure the would show up in numbers.
Metro Detroit would pack that stadium full, no doubt about it.
was full in 1971 when Detroit played Baltimore at Michigan Stadium, the one and only time an NFL game has been played at the Big House.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:48 PM ^
Because the popularity of the nfl in 1971 is on par with the popularity in 2014.
And wasn't that a preseason game?
That NASCAR style CFB game being setup to artificially garner the record. I hope its a 15 year money loser for the promoters.
Not likely. The fans will be nuts for it.