MLS - Scoring Economic Goals

On June 8, 1998, on the NBC Tonight Show, Jay Leno received a huge laugh from his audience while talking about the chances of Soccer becoming a major professional sport in America. He mentioned the World Cup Soccer match, currently underway and queried his audience about what they thought the chances of soccer being successful in the US were. After asking the audience he replied, "I mean, soccer in the US? I don't think so. I mean, to Americans, soccer is like Foosball with real people!" The audience cracked up as Leno kept his arms at his side and moved his body as if mimicking the tiny, plastic soccer players that hang from the bars of a Foosball game. Supporters of soccer in the US probably cringed at the joke upon realizing the "negative" or "laughable" image that soccer in the US carries for many Americans. While Major League Soccer has been attempted in the US, and does have chances for economic success, one of the biggest obstacles it will have to overcome is the weak image of soccer as a professional sport to the majority of Americans. This analysis will discuss previous attempts to make soccer a professional, successful sport in the US and the economic likelihood of it becoming a successful professional sport on the level of Major League Baseball, the National Football League or the National Basketball Association.

There have been various attempts at securing soccer as a professional American sport, the Indo

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of "cultural diversity" when it comes to marketing campaigns and consumer sensitivities. The demographics of soccer fans and participants is a dream come true for those who are already in alignment with this marketing strategy-companies like Nike, PepsiCo, and many others. As American demographics keep changing to the degree whereby the white male may someday soon be a "minority", so the future audiences of soccer will not be comprised of a majority of white, ethnocentric males who have a difficult time adopting any sport that is not inherently perceived as American, "It's not going to be a predominantly white, male audience, but rather it's going to be an audience made up of Caucasians, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans�Not everybody will be over the age of 35 or 40. It's going to be made up of a lot of children, to maybe guys in their 30s, and then to older people who were immigrants to this country and who have a special appreciation for the sport�.What our league is all about and what the future of American sports is all about [is to be] truly a mirror image of America, a coming together and having bridges between people fall down as they watch a sporting event together," (Jones 2). While this may sound like

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