MLS uprising

How soccer is becoming America’s biggest athletic event

This year has been a rough one for professional sports in America. With lockouts tripping up the NFL and NBA, and performance-enhancing drugs plaguing MLB, it’s no surprise that feelings have begun to sour toward these sports.

But they face a greater threat than unhappy player unions and unappealing characters. The biggest issue for most American sports is the dropping attendance numbers and the shift in popularity among the top sports that comes as a direct result.

ESPN keeps statistics of the average game attendance throughout a league’s season. The top three sports—as of their 2010-11 seasons—are as follows: the NFL with 67,508 fans per game, MLB with 30,270 and MLS with 18,452.

Surprised?

You really shouldn’t be.

Not only are the NBA and NHL struggling to maintain a steady attendance, but they’ve actually begun losing their fanbases, according to ESPN’s numbers.

And, whether you like it or not, a big factor in this paradigm shift is the steadily growing MLS.

Major League Soccer was, at its inception, a ten-team league that played exclusively in the U.S. But while the league was founded in 1993, it only began to truly explode in 2004. Realizing the potential to attract a much larger and more diverse audience than other sports, the league has since expanded to 18 teams scattered throughout the U.S. and Canada.

And with a global fanbase, it’s no surprise that soccer’s ascent in North America has only just begun.

“There are several reasons why MLS continues to grow,” Greg Lalas, editor in chief of MLSsoccer.com said.

“During last year’s World Cup, America embraced both the game and the U.S. team. Since then, we’ve gained a lot of support from the major broadcast networks, which means more games on TV than ever before.

There has definitely been a growing interest in the game, and we’ve been able to take advantage of that attention.”

With several seasons under his belt as a MLS player, as well as experience working for the league, Lalas has a firm grasp on what steps need to be taken to secure the future of the league and promote its expansion. And he is confident that MLS growth will continue for years to come.

“Our focus isn’t necessarily to draw in new fans, but rather to turn soccer fans into MLS fans. Doing that is all about finding a balance.

Focusing on expanding the youth academies ties into everything. It builds player interest, giving the league a ‘home-grown’ feel.

Beyond that, America has become much more ingrained with the international soccer world. Bringing in players like Beckham, Henry and Robbie Keane proves that MLS is competitive on the highest level. And that’s really our biggest goal: molding American soccer into something that fits us but can also compete with the best in the world,” Lalas said.

MLS takes the most popular sport in the world and drops it into our backyard, giving us the chance to make the sport our own.

Even with American-created sports like football, the impact of the fanbase on the league and players is fairly non-existent—which may very well be why more fans are turning from other sports and moving toward soccer and MLS.

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