U.S. media fickle lovers of soccer

     Journalism is the noble profession to people like ourselves. However, there are times when the profession teeters on its lofty pedestal. Case in point: soccer. Sometimes its noblesse oblige is lost in the sports pages. 

     The World Cup is enjoying some of its highest ratings, and yet a decade ago soccer was being derided as anti-American in the same media that appears to love it today.

     According to the Los Angeles Times almost 43 million people watched Brazil and Croatia on Brazilian channel TV Globo, the highest sports broadcast of 2014. More than 11 million watched the USA beat Ghana on ESPN, which was a record high for ESPN’s coverage of men’s FIFA World Cup matches. England and Italy’s opener attracted more than 14 million on BBC1 in the UK and 12.8 million on RAI 1, the highest TV audiences in both countries in 2014.

     I distinctly remember ESPN broadcasters for years poking fun at the “beautiful game” with derogatory comments about the lack of scoring, and the famous “flops.” It was nearly impossible to watch soccer on America’s No. 1 sports network. Seeing a soccer play make the “Plays of the Day” (Duh Nah Nah, Duh Nah Nah) was unheard of unless it somehow embarrassed the sport or players.

     ESPN was not the only culprit. Mark Salisbury, writing for Soccer News, fetched some nuggets from The American Soccer History Archives. For instance, Tom Weir wrote in USA Today in December 1993, that "hating soccer is more American than apple pie, driving a pickup, or spending Saturday afternoons channel surfing with the remote control." Dan Barreiro in the Minneapolis Star Tribune invited foreigners to the World Cup in America with, "Bring us your tired, your poor, your hoodlums!" Bernie Lincicome from the Chicago Tribune suggested soccer's only value in the U.S. is to serve "in junior high gym class as phys ed credit for kids who are free to use their hands to push their glasses up their nose."

      So, it appears some things have changed. ESPN is scheduling an unprecedented amount of time to the World Cup. Forty-three of the tournament’s 64 matches will air on ESPN. The network also had a 24-hour pre-broadcast build-up to the opening of the matches.

      Why the change? The answer is simple: money. Go back and look at the ratings, and realize what that means in advertising dollars. The Oregonian reported that U.S. television advertising on soccer events rose 43 percent since the last World Cup to $378 million in 2013. 

     Also, the viewing public has changed with the influx of soccer-loving immigrants. More than 40 million people in the United States – both legal and undocumented – come from another country making America the top destination in the world for immigrants, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. 

      Not surprisingly, more U.S. immigrants come from Mexico, roughly 11.7 million people — or 29 percent of all U.S. immigrants. The U.S. soccer team in Brazil reflects that shift in traditional America. Dania Cabello reported for Aljazeera America, that 60 percent of the U.S. roster is composed of first- or second-generation Americans, five of whom were born outside the U.S. The team could field a starting lineup of 11 players with direct ties to Mexico, Colombia, Haiti, Germany, Norway, Iceland, Poland, Latvia and the Philippines.

     So, to use a cliché (so popular among coaches and sports media): Soccer in America – you’ve come a long way, baby.

Jerry L. Miller

Sparks High School

Sparks, Nevada