the point isn't whether it is hugely popular now, it is how it is trending. two significant demographics have stated that it is their favorite or second favorite sport -- Hispanics and non-Hispanic 12-24 year old's. that is meaningful. additionally, 33 million Americans have stated they are soccer fans. that is only 10% of the population, but the point is not that it has achieved the level of popularity of the other sports now just that if the trend continues it can become so. obviously it has to start somewhere.
do you guys know what sports have seen a huge growth? NASCAR and MMA, those sports have exploded. Soccer is gaining popularity but it is moving at a very slow pace. I know you guys don't believe me but I hope it becomes big for you guys, I appreciate how much love it. Maybe some day I will like it, I have honestly tried to get into it during the WC. It's just not for me. I love to goof on soccer, we have fun going back and forth(at least I do) but I do hope some day we see big time soccer on our soil.
NASCAR is not growing. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2012-02-05/cnbc-nascar-business/52949158/1 That community appears to have dwindled during the economic downturn. Attendance has only held steady or has slipped at most tracks. Most notable among them is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which hosts a midsummer race, the Brickyard 400, that drew an estimated 138,000 last year, about half of the 270,000 that attended the race in 2007. NASCAR reported an 8% increase in the Sprint Cup Series television ratings in 2011 compared with 2010, but viewership for several marquee races was down, including the Daytona 500, which drew 15.8 million viewers a year ago, compared with 17.8 million in 2008. NASCAR's eight-year, $4.48-billion television contract with Fox, ESPN and Turner is to expire at the end of the 2014 season, but the organization and its race teams have already altered the way they do business. Corporate sponsors, more important to the sport than gasoline, are being recruited harder, and from a wider spectrum.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/02/sport/football/new-york-cosmos-pele-football/ One day until the Cosmos return.
NASCAR is already a major sport, they don't have the room to grow the way sports that people barely follow do.
Nascar attendance is falling bigtime: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...easons-attendance-is-falling-across-the-board MLS had record attendance AGAIN in 2012.
it's not hard to top records when attendance has been so low. Attendance has dropped in most places, soccer stadiums are for the most part tiny and one good attendance year from a team can give the league an increase but you can combine all the venues in MLS and they wouldn't get as many people as one or 2 NASCAR races. I hate NASCAR, I can watch a soccer game before cars driving in a circle but for some reason many people love it.
inflated obviously. 6 mil for 323 games or 18,807 a game(clearly inflated but we'll pretend they are real) Nascar had 23 races in 2012 and 3,518,000 people attended or 152,956 per race. If Nascar had the same amount of races as MLS attendance would prorate to 49,404,955 yeah, they are close.
would you rather be down w/ 152K a race or up w/ 18K a game? can you break out each team that has gone up from 2011 to 2012?
Prior to the match. Keywords in bold http://fox59.com/2013/08/01/lucas-o...nternational-attention-to-indy/#axzz2ap9fQreL
they got what they expected so what is the cause for celebration? 2 premier teams barely filling up half a stadium?
not the point. the point is where it is trending and where that will lead in the future if that trend continues.
Facts never get in the way of a good junc argument. His overall sports knowledge and perspective trump any tangible data.