Stars Could Make Soccer Huge in the U.S.

Maybe the television success of the World Cup this summer portends things to come? An opinion piece published by the Associated Press tells Europe and the rest of the world to beware: “The Americans are coming after your stars again.” If the U.S. manages to hire Juergen Klinsmann as head coach of the national team, and if Ronaldo and David Beckham make the move to Major League Soccer, it could lead to the kind of attention that hasn’t been seen around here since the boom days of the North American Soccer League in the late 70s. Now, 20 years later, the time may be right to bring added investment to MLS, which has managed to stay aground with modest success and no global stars after 10 years. At 30 and 31, respectively, Ronaldo and Beckham may be passed their best, but we shouldn’t forget that these are the game’s two biggest stars over the last 10 years, and they still have a good two or three years left in them. Not only would they draw publicity here for just being in MLS, but they would attract worldwide attention to the league here as well, and perhaps (gasp), an overseas TV deal? “By all rights, the United States should be a dominant force in soccer,” the article says, with 65 million fans and 18 million people who claim to play the game (in and of itself, more than the populations of 15 countries represented in the World Cup), but monetarily, there hasn’t been an incentive for kids to grow up dreaming about playing soccer. This is why the addition of Klinsmann, Ronaldo and Beckham could be so crucial to the future of U.S. soccer: market it properly, make it “ultracool,” and soccer just might become the next big thing.