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 Indoor Soccer League (ISL), the North American Soccer League (NASL) and the current Major League Soccer (MLS) originated in 1993-1994 among them. The NASL is a perfect example of what not to do in creating a professional sports league in America. First of all, the league was foreign-dominated and the majority of players, coaches and others involved in the NASL were unknown to a large majority of Americans. Further, some franchises in the league paid huge sums of money to attract well known foreign ...