Hey, would you be able to send your e mail to klangan@omnipossible.com? I want to get the B/R community leaders on a mailing list for a press release on behalf of Sports Media 101.

Thanks

Yes, NBC Sports. The same people who carry Sunday Night Football and the Olympics, two of the highest-rated sports broadcasts in the country. Definitely a step up from small, soccer-only cable channels. Soccer games, while not yet achieving similar TV ratings to the established American sports, are being watched by steadily increasing audiences.

And while you're looking up the exponentially rising youth soccer participation rates in this country, you might also notice a similar trend in match attendances both for MLS and international matches. MLS teams are building (and filling) new stadiums almost one per year. Crowds at Seattle, Portland, Vancouver or Toronto matches could rival those at the smaller English Premier League stadiums. Seventy thousand people just showed up for an exhibition match in the Meadowlands. A Latin American population that gravitates to soccer more than any other sport is growing by leaps and bounds and will continue to do so.

All of the trends are upward. There is NO statistical or cultural evidence to suggest that soccer will diminish in popularity anywhere in the world, let alone the US.

Fans of soccer take articles like yours personally because we're tired of being spoken to like un-American outsiders because of our love of the game, especially by people with nothing to back up their statements except their own misguided preconceptions.

By the way, NBC just signed a contract to start carrying MLS games in 2012. So clearly someone who is educated about sports trends in the United States disagrees with you. Did it ever occur to you to look at a statistic or two regarding soccer's popularity in the US before you spewed out a meaninglessly narcissistic article about it "will never matter"?

"From 1990 to 2003, the number of participants on U.S. high school soccer teams more than doubled, from about 305,000 to nearly 659,000." - USA Today 2/1/2007

From the Boston Globe:
http://boston.com/community/blogs/less_is_more/2011/07/soccer_has_arrived_in_america.html

Soccer has been steadily and measurably increasing in popularity for the last 20 years in the United States, and to suggest that it will "never matter" in the face of so much evidence to the contrary demonstrates your ineptitude as a journalist.

Don't write articles about sports you don't understand.Rather stick to what you know & thats American sports.Your article just exhibited your ignorance about Football.

incorrigible? Wtf. In what way are you trying to correct or reform football fans? Maybe your should know what you're talking about before you write it.

Oh, soccer fans. You're incorrigible!

i dont think you can claim that you like sports in general, i dont think you understand sports at all. i was entertained by your ignorances in the worst "sports" article ever.

You literally wrote the worst article in the history of Bleacher Report

Are you like 12, you look young Shaun, very young. HEY who gave the baby a pen! On the bright side glad you admit to being somewhat IGNORANT.

Shaun, your 5th reason was right on, and has been a gripe for soccer fans for decades. Someday instant replay will come and fix that problem though. Your first four reasons, however, outline the REAL reasons soccer has yet to catch on and they are reasons most people outside the USA can't stand us: ignorance, arrogance, and laziness. At least you admit your ignorance by saying you aren't a soccer fan. Please stick to whatever else they let you write about and stay out of soccer.

The USA/Brazil match, from beginning to end, was one of the most dramatic sporting events I have ever watched. To say only the last 5 minutes was exciting further outlines your ignorance. Also, a smaller pitch would not create more goals, it would have the exact opposite effect and make play even more "boring" as you see it. Spacing and runs make the game exciting, and a smaller pitch would choke the game.

To put it simply, you are a moron. Stick to writing MMA or Swimsuit competitions, since that is what you seem to find most interesting.