BY MICHAEL CAGE · MAY 30, 2021

The popularity of Major League Soccer and football in general has grown exponentially in the United States over the past handful of years.

Historically, the most popular sport in the world has struggled to win over Americans, and it wasn’t until FIFA awarded them to host the 1994 World Cup that a professional league was re-established.

Prior to the MLS being setup in 1996, the last professional league in the country had been the North American Soccer League, which shut down in 1984 due to a lack of popularity. This despite a number of star players plying their trade over there at one point in their careers, including Pele, Gerd Muller and George Best.

Today, the MLS is growing in popularity year-on-year as more and more franchises continue to join the league too.

The 2020 season saw the addition of two expansion clubs, Inter Miami and Nashville SC, before Austin FC joined this campaign, taking the league to a total of 27 teams. Charlotte FC will join in 2022 and St Louis City SC are joining the following year. Don’t be surprised to hear fresh soccer news anytime in the near future announcing the next franchise, with Las Vegas widely believed to be getting a team in the coming years.

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Whilst football is a fairly new sport in terms of popularity in the United States, it’s been Europe’s number one sport for over a century. In fact, no other sport comes close to matching the popularity of football in the likes of England, Spain and Germany.

Historically in the United States, American Football has been the number one sport. That remains the case today but it’s spot there is no longer guaranteed with the rate that football is growing.

With more studies and news about the dangers of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, brain injuries caused by repeated blows to the head, many families are stopping their children from playing American football and encouraging them to play less dangerous sports instead, such as football.

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The NFL have started protecting their players as best they can in recent years, such as limiting kickoff returns, trying to eradicate helmet-to-helmet hits and protecting the quarterbacks like they’re a vase. For some fans they are not happy with these changes.

The lengthy basketball (NBA), ice hockey (NHL) and baseball (MLB) seasons are a turn off to a number of youngsters as they get into sports. Football is the big winner here.

Something else that has been a huge success for the growth of football in America is their coverage of European football. Most MLS fans also have a favourite European side – with Barcelona, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain being among the most popular team jerseys in the US.

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The UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, and Spanish La Liga are big hits in the States too, despite some games kicking off in the morning or during work hours. Although the MLS doesn’t have the world stars that European football boasts, the quality of the league is certainly improving year after year. David Beckham, Thierry Henry, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have all played in America in recent seasons.

The NFL currently gets an average of 16 million viewers per game, followed by the NBA’s 4 million. Major League Soccer does prop up the table of professional sports with an average of 1 million television viewers per game. However, that’s growing year on year and is closing in on both the NHL and MLB. It’s seemingly just a matter of a couple of years before the

Michael Cage

Michael is a digital advertising and marketing expert.