The amount of people that watch the 2012 Super Bowl was 111 million worldwide, might seem like a very large audience unless you compare it to the amount of people that watched the 2012 Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea with a staggering amount of over 200 million viewers worldwide. (Harry) Soccer is without a doubt the world’s most popular, although, it is not the most popular sport in the United States. It is true soccer, or football how the rest of the world calls the sport, is not the most popular sport in the United States but its popularity is rapidly increasing. “Rich Luker, a 59-year-old baseball-loving social scientist based in North Carolina, is the brains behind the ESPN Sports Poll, the complex database that recently pronounced soccer as America 's second-most popular sport for those age 12-24, outstripping the NBA, MLB and college football” (Bennet). Immigration into the United States has greatly contributed to the increase in the popularity of soccer. Also, the ease of watching soccer on the television has greatly increased. Soccer brings a sense of community to fans that they are not able to obtain with any other sport. Contrarily, soccer is a low-scoring, low pace, and has little contact which prevents many Americans from enjoying the sport. What if the way the game is played has nothing to do with why more people are joining the sport? We are living in financially difficult times, and due to this we have seen a growth in the participation of soccer.
Immigration into the United States has greatly affected the popularity of soccer in the United States. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, “53 percent of immigrants came from Latin America in the last decade (2000-2010) or about 6,349,527 total Latin immigrants” (Camarota).Soccer is immensely popular in Latin America so when citizens in those countries immigrate to the United States they bring their activities and share them with the citizens who
Cited: . Nike.com. N.p.. Web. 16 Mar 2013. <http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/?l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-100701/pid-463692/pgid-749020>. "Almost half the world tuned in at home to watch 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™." Fifa.com. N.p., 11 Jul 2011. Web. 16 Mar 2013. Bennet, Roger. "Soccer 's Big Takeover." ESPN FC. N.p.. Web. 16 Mar 2013. <http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/relegationzone/id/262?cc=5901>. Camarota, Steven. "Immigrants in the United States, 2010: A Profile of America 's Foreign-Born Population."Center for Immigration Studies. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar 2013. <http://www.cis.org/2012-profile-of-americas-foreign-born-population Davis, Steve. "NBC Universal acquires exclusive English Premier League rights in United States." Pro soccer talk. N.p., 28 Oct 2012. Web. 18 Mar 2013. <http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/28/nbc-universal-acquires-exclusive-english-premier-league-rights-in-united-states/>. Goff, Steven. "World Cup 2010: American fans will have power in numbers." thewashingtonpost.com. N.p., 08 Jun 2010. Web. 16 Mar 2013. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/07/AR2010060704456.html>. Harry, Cee. "6 Reasons Why Americans Should Watch Soccer." EPL Talk. N.p., 29 June 2012. Web. 16 Mar 2013. <http://epltalk.com/2012/06/29/6-more-reasons-why-americans-should-watch-soccer/>. Hauser, Mark. "Soccer will Never be Popular in the United States." Ultimatesportsranking.com. N.p., 08 Jun 2012. Web. 18 Mar 2013. <http://ultimatesportsrankings.com/articles.php?id=48>. Saporito, Bill. "Yes, Soccer Is America 's Game." Time.com. N.p., 03 Jun 2010. Web. 18 Mar 2013. <http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1991933_1991952_1993757,00.html>.