Zum Thema Fussball in den USA gab es am Wochenende einen sehr guten Bericht im Economist. Es geht dabei um Fussball in den drei groessten Laendern der Welt: China, Indien, USA. In den ersten beiden wird Fussball viel geschaut, aber wenig (oder schlecht) gespielt. In den USA wird Fussball gespielt, aber wenig geschaut. Noch. Das aendert sich aber.
"n the day of a football match, being in Seattle is like being in another country, says Clint Dempsey, a forward with the Seattle Sounders who is also the captain of America’s national men’s team. The Sounders’ fans meet in the heart of the city an hour and a half before kick off and march to the stadium with their scarves held high and flares alight. A 53-member marching band leads the way. Mr Goldblatt compares Sounders fans to the ultras, Italy’s fanatical football supporters—but though they have borrowed some traditions from European football culture, they also created their own. If ever there was a sign that football is taking off in America, this is it, says Mr Goldblatt.
Americans have heard this before. The first purported turning-point for football in America came in 1975, when the New York Cosmos signed Pelé. Though the Brazilian legend raised the profile of the game, the North American Soccer League in which the Cosmos played folded ten years later. When America hosted the World Cup in 1994, it was again thought that football was on the up. But Major League Soccer (MLS), the country’s professional league, failed to build on the momentum; a few years later it nearly went bust. Other dramatic developments—America reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2002, David Beckham signing with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007, Landon Donovan’s miraculous last-minute goal against Algeria in 2010—were heralded as game-changers. The games Americans showed most interest in, though, did not seem to change.
Songs in the street
Football’s critics took all this as evidence that America would never embrace such a low-scoring game with few statistics to fuel fantasy leagues. Youngsters of both sexes might play football in large numbers, and the women’s game (at which America excels) would occasionally capture the nation’s attention, but there was no way football could challenge America’s four major team sports—baseball, basketball, ice hockey and American football. And yet, without making any single dramatic breakthrough, football has surreptitiously entered the mainstream.
Teams that once played in near-empty American-football stadiums now boast arenas designed for football and frequently full. Average attendance, though down last year, has risen to 18,600 per match, which puts MLS ahead of both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (which play more games). According toForbes magazine, the average MLS franchise is now worth $103m, up more than 175% over the past five years. The league had 13 clubs in 2007; next year it will have 21, including a new club in New York. The improved MLS has lured America’s best players, like Mr Dempsey and Michael Bradley, back from the European leagues. There are ten players from MLS teams in this year’s American squad; there were just four in 2010."
