You touched on the athletic issue - really think it boils down to our best athletes not playing soccer.
Another overlooked aspect is the instincts that are developed by watching sports from a very young age. The average American knows a decent amount about football/baseball/basketball strategy and split second decisions make a huge impact. We’re a pretty “dumb” soccer country.
The central ownership/franchise set up answers a long-standing question that I've had, which is why aren't soccer teams more heavily marketed. I live in Austin, a US city where soccer is the only professional sport team, and I can barely tell you when the season starts/ends, don't know any major players, and have to go out of my way to buy merch or watch a game on TV (I'm not even sure the games are broadcast on tv...?).
Compared to growing up in Kansas City, every family had magnets on their fridge with the Royals and Chiefs schedules that were mailed out en masse, there were lifesize cutouts of major players next to displays of merch at basically every store in town, and of course games were broadcast during prime watching times on network television.
I've always felt like, Americans would probably love to watch soccer, especially given the short game time, but most of us don't know where or how.
That's like asking "Why isn't Rugby in the EU as big as the NFL?" The ball is similar, but the sport is very different. NFL salaries are out of this world and teams are very valuable, independent businesses. If you have the skills to play NFL receiver or MLS striker, you go for that NFL $.
I think you over-estimate the “home field” advantage for the US. Remember that while the games might be on US turf, fans of the opponent usually dominate the crowd - often overwhelmingly so - anywhere outside of Columbus or St Louis.
With the World Cup looming put on by the massively corrupt FIFA, I get why Nate focuses on the men and gives the women short shrift, but the women are doing quite well.
The United States women's national soccer team has won four FIFA Women's World Cup titles in 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019, along with five Olympic gold medals in 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2024. Looks like the boys have a hard time keeping up.
They play a social "everyone plays" schoolyard kickball game.
They are so used to incompetent teammates that they don't even worry about developing top tier skills.
The game quality is so bad that the only spectators are parents who spend more time thinking about supplying oranges than noticing the game.
A minor secondary issue is that professional soccer built on the football model and used college as the minor leagues. If you weren't college material, you weren't professional soccer material.
That is less accurate now, but it is still the case that skilled high school soccer players have a harder time advancing directly to professional play than, for example, baseball players.
The club model is starting to emerge in the US, but it needs to overcome 5 decades of sabotage.
You touched on the athletic issue - really think it boils down to our best athletes not playing soccer.
Another overlooked aspect is the instincts that are developed by watching sports from a very young age. The average American knows a decent amount about football/baseball/basketball strategy and split second decisions make a huge impact. We’re a pretty “dumb” soccer country.
Edit for you: US beat Senegal 3-2 not 2-1.
The central ownership/franchise set up answers a long-standing question that I've had, which is why aren't soccer teams more heavily marketed. I live in Austin, a US city where soccer is the only professional sport team, and I can barely tell you when the season starts/ends, don't know any major players, and have to go out of my way to buy merch or watch a game on TV (I'm not even sure the games are broadcast on tv...?).
Compared to growing up in Kansas City, every family had magnets on their fridge with the Royals and Chiefs schedules that were mailed out en masse, there were lifesize cutouts of major players next to displays of merch at basically every store in town, and of course games were broadcast during prime watching times on network television.
I've always felt like, Americans would probably love to watch soccer, especially given the short game time, but most of us don't know where or how.
That's like asking "Why isn't Rugby in the EU as big as the NFL?" The ball is similar, but the sport is very different. NFL salaries are out of this world and teams are very valuable, independent businesses. If you have the skills to play NFL receiver or MLS striker, you go for that NFL $.
I think you over-estimate the “home field” advantage for the US. Remember that while the games might be on US turf, fans of the opponent usually dominate the crowd - often overwhelmingly so - anywhere outside of Columbus or St Louis.
With the World Cup looming put on by the massively corrupt FIFA, I get why Nate focuses on the men and gives the women short shrift, but the women are doing quite well.
The United States women's national soccer team has won four FIFA Women's World Cup titles in 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019, along with five Olympic gold medals in 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2024. Looks like the boys have a hard time keeping up.
You're usually pretty good about things like this, but should have mentioned that the U.S. Women's hockey team won gold at this year's Olympics too.
And how much is the NIL for college soccer compared to football and basketball? Not sure about hockey, women's basketball and softball.
Four letter answer : AYSO.
Most kids in the US don't play soccer.
They play a social "everyone plays" schoolyard kickball game.
They are so used to incompetent teammates that they don't even worry about developing top tier skills.
The game quality is so bad that the only spectators are parents who spend more time thinking about supplying oranges than noticing the game.
A minor secondary issue is that professional soccer built on the football model and used college as the minor leagues. If you weren't college material, you weren't professional soccer material.
That is less accurate now, but it is still the case that skilled high school soccer players have a harder time advancing directly to professional play than, for example, baseball players.
The club model is starting to emerge in the US, but it needs to overcome 5 decades of sabotage.