Television made its World Cup debut in 1954, enabling West Germans to gather around tiny sets in taverns — or outside electronic stores, looking in through the window — to watch their team win in Switzerland. Chile ’62 was filmed and flown to Europe for broadcast. Thanks to communications satellites, Mexico ’70 was the first World Cup shown live in virtually every nation of the developed world. In Brazil, it marked the first time a live event was broadcast simultaneously in both the country’s north and the south. The 1978 World Cup in Argentina introduced color television to that nation. In 1982, Chilean television used up a year’s budget to follow its team in Spain — Chile lost three straight games and for months afterward Chilean TV had to rely on repeats and old movies. That was also the year ABC brought the final live to U.S. viewers for the first time. And Spanish-language SIN (now Univision) showed all the games in the U.S. When the exciting 1966 World Cup final was shown, delayed, on U.S. television, it galvanized the promoters of professional soccer who eventually gave us the NASL. That league died in 1984. Now we enter the summer of endless soccer. All 64 games can be seen live on English-language TV — and Univision is showing 56 live and the eight others delayed. MLS will carry on with 28 games — five on national TV — during the World Cup. MLS attendance may decrease — fans just won’t have the energy after so much television viewing. But the long-term effect on the league will be positive. All that World Cup TV is certain to create new soccer fans. And, for the first time, the U.S. will be at a World Cup with players from its own league. Unless they completely embarrass themselves, they’ll return from France with greater drawing power than ever.