any Americans getting Euro2004 on PPV?

[jdl22]

I just went to the page of the provider www.setanta.com (http://www.setanta.com) and apparently it's $179 for the whole tourney or $19.95 per match for opening round and $24.95 for quarters semis and final.

So if you wanted to watch only your favorite team win the whole tourney (I'm thinking if you're still reading this far you probably like Italy) you would still spend $135 for all those matches.

These prices are insane. If Spain makes the final I will probably pay the 25 but I don't think I'll spend 30 bb at 3/6 on the whole tourney.

[B-Man]

I assume this is a soccer tournament? Most Americans don't care about soccer (except for any games their kids happen to be playing in)--I can't imagine very many people would be ordering this package, and of those that do, I would bet that the vast majority are immigrants.

[IrishHand]

LOL

Could you be more ignorant?

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world - and 2nd place isn't even close. I know many US-born Americans who live and die by how their soccer club in England, in Italy, in Spain performs. While I agree that most American's remain - like you - ignorant to this reality, that hardly means that the only people who care about the sport are those born outside this country. Indeed - many Americans are actually interested in the world outside our borders...

[B-Man]

LOL--I make a true statement (which you even agree with!) and you call me ignorant.

Of course soccer is the most popular sport in the world--no [censored] sherlock, thanks for the news bulletin, but either you didn't read the original post or it is you that is ignorant--the poster asked if any Americans were ordering this tournament on PPV. The popularity of soccer in the rest of the world is completely irrelevant to his question; the popularity of soccer in the U.S. is all that is relevant, and the truth is that, in the U.S., soccer is far behind football, baseball and basketball, not to mention hockey, auto-racing, tennis and golf, as a spectator sport. If you think millions of people in this country are going to spend money to watch a soccer tournament on PPV, you are sadly mistaken (hell, if the original poster had thought many people would be ordering it, he wouldn't even have asked the question).

[Sloats]

I played soccer in high school, and as an American, I couldn't care less about professional soccer/futeball. Blame it on MTV, but to the majority of Americans, soccer is not exciting.

Hell, I play hockey in a beer league and I hate professional hockey on tv. You can't get Americans interested in that sport either (unless the Rangers are in the finals which directly influences the majority of the media including ESPN).

[hetron]

So what exactly is the point of your original post?

[superleeds]

[ QUOTE ]
but to the majority of Americans, soccer is not exciting

[/ QUOTE ]

As a brit who's been here 4 1/2 years I find this odd, but true. I think ultimately its all down to what you grew up with, the average American has no understanding of the intricities of FOOTBALL (not soccer) simply because they have no history of the game. They just don't understand how 0-0 draw can be exciting. (A lot aren't I grant you, but some have been classics).

This is not a critizism, just an observation. On the flip side I can't see what all the fuss is about a game ending 110 - 109 when all the action really only happens in the last 2 minutes and that is drawn out for about 30 minutes! I've been told that College stuff (when it's non televised) is much better than pro because they actually get on with the game rather than stopping every 5 seconds so I can watch crappy ads. This is my main problem with almost all American sports, I just end up screaming at the TV 'GET ON WITH IT' /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[jdl22]

Interesting responses. I wasn't expecting this discussion but it is worth discussing imo.

In a way I think you're both right. In the US soccer (btw Superleeds soccer was derived by a Brit from the word association which precedes football in the official name for the sport) is far from the most popular sport and is far less popular than many other sports. While I haven't seen any statistics on the demographics I would say most soccer fans in the US (when I say fans I mean people that actually follow it in other countries) are no longer immigrants. Only 10 or 20 years ago I would say that over 90% of fans were immigrants or 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants but today that doesn't seem to be the case.

One interesting thing about the US may get some disagreement but I think if you were to take the average soccer fan I would say that the American fan is likely to be more intense than those of other countries. The reason for this is that it is something of a cult sport here and people here have to work to follow the game. I doubt for example very many English people follow the Spanish league too closely. Football fans in the US is tend to follow a variety of leagues.

As for me if you were to ask me my favorite sports team in any sport my answer without hesitation would be Sevilla Futbol Club (Hasta la Muerte!). While I also like the SF Giants, the Blazers, and will like my 49ers again once they fire Erickson the team of my heart is certainly Sevilla. This is also rather different from most Americans who in football prefer either Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, or AC Milan. Unfortunately most like the first team on the list.

Just thought of this. Superleeds and others from or in England if they had Euro2004 on ppv charging 200 quid or so, assuming there was no riot to get it on for free how many people would actually buck up and pay?

[superleeds]

[ QUOTE ]
btw Superleeds soccer was derived by a Brit from the word association which precedes football in the official name for the sport

[/ QUOTE ]

I know. I just hate the word soccer /images/graemlins/mad.gif

[ QUOTE ]
Just thought of this. Superleeds and others from or in England if they had Euro2004 on ppv charging 200 quid or so, assuming there was no riot to get it on for free how many people would actually buck up and pay?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, but fortunately big sporting events such as this, the World Cup, Olympics etc, are protected under a special law which prohibits them being hijacked by PPV in the UK.

Fortunately as I'm in NYC I'll see the games almost exclusively in a bar /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[B-Man]

[ QUOTE ]
So what exactly is the point of your original post?

[/ QUOTE ]

I was answering the question of the original poster.

[TylerD]

In other words why is "soccer" predominantly a kids sport in the USA?

[jdl22]

That's another good question. I think that more children play organised soccer in the US than any other country. Somehow that doesn't transfer to adults here.

[superleeds]

IMHO, because it's the easiest team sport to organise and play. Their is no need for expensive equipment, in fact apart from a ball you need no equipment (jumpers for goalposts, shirts or skins - happy days). The rules are very simple and everyones involved at all times.

But as kids get older they gravitate to the mainstream American sports because thats what they see day in and day out. It's just a culture thing I think.

[sfer]

I dunno. I still play every Saturday when the weather's good.

[banditbdl]

A lot of kids who play soccer are lost to the game once they become old enough to play football, basketball, and baseball reasonably well. I don't think those little 7-year olds playing swarm ball should really be counted as playing soccer. I lot of people also stop playing soccer as they get older (into 20s, 30s and up) because it takes a lot of work and running to play right. Unlike say softball, which you can enjoyably play while hammered. As for the not watching it on TV it just doesn't lend itself to our short TV attention spans. It's an intricate game and if you stop playing by the time your 14 or 15 you don't learn to appreciate those intricacies. Without understanding the intricacies there just isn't much reason to watch it.

[Cyrus]

There's got to be a "qualitative leap", as they, down the road, in American soccer. When you have class after class after class of kids getting familiar with soccer, even if they get away from it as adults now, in the future the number of those ex-soccer will probably reach some critical mass, whereby the sport will explode all over and take its place among America's favorite sports.

...Back to politics: And then, at last, the world will have the chance to beat America in a sport that Americans love! /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Cyrus]

"They just don't understand how 0-0 draw can be exciting."

Such as the France-Brazil friendly played yesterday in Paris, to celebrate FIFA's 100 years. An absolute joy to watch.

[jdl22]

That's basically my story. I played from when I was 5 until junior high. Tried playing American football for a couple years then my freshman year of high school I went back. I started following European soccer closely during my senior year of high school. Now one of my main concerns in searching for a new apartment is whether or not I can set up my satelite because I would quite possibly die without being able to watch la liga. Sadly they usually only show 3 or at most 4 matches a week and 2 of those seemingly by law must be Real Madrid and Barca take this week for example, there are three matches that could affect which teams go to the UEFA cup instead they are showing a Real Madrid game that doesn't matter. Since Sevilla is playing for a UEFA spot I'm stuck listening to it on the radio.

Anyway, I went off on a tangent as usual but my point is that there are several others like me who grew up playing and now are dedicated fans of the beautiful game. I think if we had similar laws as they do in England (as superleeds mentioned earlier) and these big intercontinental/international competitions were shown on cable that would get people much more interested.