If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

Say, as a % of those who watch the superbowl. Assume WC final is on @ peak hours.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

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Say, as a % of those who watch the superbowl. Assume WC final is on @ peak hours.

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As a % of those who watch the Super Bowl? That's a tough comparable. But I'd say 70%.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

I wish more Americans would embrace World Cup Soccer. I cannot wait for things to get underway in Germany. There is so much pride on the line, country vs country (compared to the somewhat boring in my opinion, olympics). The ultimate battle of nations is the World Cup. Hopefully, the US can continue to improve their showing in the World Cup.

Folks do yourself a favor and watch the World Cup.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

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I wish more Americans would embrace World Cup Soccer. I cannot wait for things to get underway in Germany. There is so much pride on the line, country vs country (compared to the somewhat boring in my opinion, olympics). The ultimate battle of nations is the World Cup. Hopefully, the US can continue to improve their showing in the World Cup.

Folks do yourself a favor and watch the World Cup.

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We ruled last time. Don't forget that. We have scoreboard on a LOT of countries.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

I think there would be quite a bit of interest here if we made it to the WC. Interest in soccer would die down shortly after, though.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

I just looked up some numbers.

86.1 million people watched last year's Super Bowl.

3.8 million watched the US vs Germany quarterfinal in 2002.

Now, be aware that it was 7:30 AM Eastern Time and 4:30 AM Pacific Time for the match, so it was very early and half the country wasn't even awake yet.

If it were in prime time, and the Finals instead of the Quarterfinals, I'd now guess we get to 40 million instead of my first guess of 56 million. So 50% of the super bowl audience.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

I was one of those 3.8 mil. US played a pretty good game, could have won it.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

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I was one of those 3.8 mil. US played a pretty good game, could have won it.

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We played maybe our best game ever, and definitely *should* have won it. We owned them and just got unlucky.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

How many watched the Womens World Cup back in 2000? It will be more than that.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

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I think there would be quite a bit of interest here if we made it to the WC. Interest in soccer would die down shortly after, though.

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Considering the fact that you don't even know that the US is *in* the WC, I'm a little dubious about your statement.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

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How many watched the Womens World Cup back in 2000? It will be more than that.

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US Women vs. China in the 99 final drew 11 million households (I believe the best rating in America for a soccer game).

July 4, 1994 when USA played Brazil in the round of 16 at the Rose Bowl, drew a 9.3 rating (apx 9 million households?). I remember this game had a bigger media buzz than the USA-Germany game for a number of reasons (patriotic, USA as underdog vs. a top team, in USA, etc.)

I think if the USA makes the final in Germany, 30-40 millions households is reasonable. They are currently ranked #7 in the world and playing well, so this is possible.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

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I think there would be quite a bit of interest here if we made it to the WC. Interest in soccer would die down shortly after, though.

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Considering the fact that you don't even know that the US is *in* the WC, I'm a little dubious about your statement.

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Bah, I meant to say the WC Final. I knew they were in it already (tied with Mexico atop the CONCACAF standings last I checked).

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

I would watch it even if it were on at 3am, and I am by no means a die hard soccer fan. I would guess that if the game were on during peak hours, it would be watched by about 15% of Americans. I think this is about 40% of those who watch the Supperbowl. This is certainly just a guess, and I hope it happens so that I could see the actuall numbers.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch
 

You would get the die hard soccer fans and the die hard America, [censored] YEAH!!! types. That's a pretty high percentage.

The Super Bowl is a bit different, more of a religious thing. People that don't particularly like football will watch the SB because of tradition and the spectacle. In the case of the WC final people that didn't like soccer would watch just because they would want the US to win. These same people would be pissed aftewerwards if we lost even if it was the first match they've seen.

As for me I would watch and depending on the opponent may or may not root for the US to win. I used to strongly support the US, going to matches with Sams Army and all that but now I'm not really feeling it.

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I was one of those 3.8 mil. US played a pretty good game, could have won it.

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Me too. I was at Columbus Crew stadium every night/morning that summer. They had a tent set up and showed all the games. There was probably 500 people there all night, every night. For the game vs Germany they showed it in the stadium on the Jumbotron. There was probably 2000 people there starting at 5am. It was pretty amazing.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

7

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

Next year edition is on Germany so you can expect better ratings overall.
The final will be prolly around 3ET. Anyway the WC is the biggest sporting event on the world and its very unlikely for USA to reach the final Id expect like 50 millions depending on who they defeated to get there( ie: beating Sweden , Togo and Spain wont be as exciting as beating Czech.rep, Holland and Brazil)

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch
 

30%.

Chicks watch Super Bowls because it's cool. Chicks don't watch World Cups.

Plus, 5% of the Super Bowl audience watches only for the commercials. I doubt the World Cup will have good commercials.

I couldn't care less when the US played in the WC last time.

After living in Europe for the last year I absolutely can't wait until the WC starts. Soccer rules! Er...football rules!! Go USA!!!

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

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Say, as a % of those who watch the superbowl. Assume WC final is on @ peak hours.

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I don't know. Does ESPN even cover sailing anymore?

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch
 

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I wish more Americans would embrace World Cup Soccer.

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Why? I can never understand why soccer fans desire Americans embrace the sport.

Our population prefers "Amercian" football and most of us don't care if anyone else likes the sport.

Same thing with Canadians and hockey. They seem to be desperate for Americans to learn to love the game. I don't know why they care who likes the game and who does not.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch
 

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I wish more Americans would embrace World Cup Soccer.

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Why? I can never understand why soccer fans desire Americans embrace the sport.

Our population prefers "Amercian" football and most of us don't care if anyone else likes the sport.

Same thing with Canadians and hockey. They seem to be desperate for Americans to learn to love the game. I don't know why they care who likes the game and who does not.

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Because it feels a bit cheap to win something that we are not interested in. We all know that if soccer was big in the US, the US would dominate - just like any other sport we care about.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch
 

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We all know that if soccer was big in the US, the US would dominate - just like any other sport we care about.

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I am not sure about that. Nobody else cares about the sports "we" care about (football, baseball, basketball). So of course "we" dominate these sports - nobody else really plays them.

Soccer is played by almost every nation and I don't think any one nation could ever really dominate the sport over a long period of time.

I don't know much about soccer, but from the little exposure I have been subjected to it seems there are a handfull of countries who consistently turn out the best teams (Germany, Brazil, Italy, England ?). But nobody really dominates the sport. I don't think the US could ever dominate this sport because of the democratic nature of the game.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch
 

I think basketball and baseball are pretty big sports world-wide. Maybe that's why we don't dominate them like we used to, though.

Maybe we wouldn't "dominate" soccer, but I am pretty sure the US would be more likely than any other country to be the best team. I think the way the WC is set up you'd have to be MUCH better than everyone else (or very lucky) to dominate.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch
 

You have to factor in all those idiots that watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. Soccer doesn't stop for commercials, so right away you lose that whole demographic.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

Who cares???

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

I'm not a soccer fan at all, but last world cup I used to get up at like 5 in the morning to watch the USA matches.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

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I was one of those 3.8 mil. US played a pretty good game, could have won it.

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We played maybe our best game ever, and definitely *should* have won it. We owned them and just got unlucky.

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for real, anyone who watched that game knows that if it weren't for Micheal Ballack being the world class player that he is, the US would've gotten to the semis

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Soccer is played by almost every nation and I don't think any one nation could ever really dominate the sport over a long period of time.

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eh, wrong. THere is a reason that only 7 nations have ever won the title, and that 5 have ever won multiple titles. So I think that would definetly mean that a small group of nations could dominate year-in-year out



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I don't know much about soccer, but from the little exposure I have been subjected to it seems there are a handfull of countries who consistently turn out the best teams (Germany, Brazil, Italy, England ?). But nobody really dominates the sport. I don't think the US could ever dominate this sport because of the democratic nature of the game.

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obviously you don't know much, so don't try to pretend that your opinion is rooted that much in fact. YOu make an observation about how few nations dominate, and then try to say that the democratic nature of football lends itself to this not happening. Football is very undemocratic and is driven by money. It is a testament to Argentina and Brazil for them constatnly churning out some of the best players in the world when their domestic clubs are raided all the time of their best players to bigger european clubs

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

hopefully I'll be there [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. I completely readjusted my sleep schedule in 2002 for the WC and watch MLS and English Prem all the time, so, I'm definetly gonna be watching

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch
 

I specified that I did not think any ONE nation could dominate, especially the US. I then used an observation that there are a handfull of nations that are consistently strong. Not any single nation that wins all, or most, of the time.

Domination, to me, is something like the Soviet Union winning in hockey almost every year from 1964 through 1980 or the US winning most international basketball competitions until recently. Not Brazil winning one year, Argentina the next, Italy the next, France the next, then Germany, then Brazil again.

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I think basketball and baseball are pretty big sports world-wide. Maybe that's why we don't dominate them like we used to, though.

Maybe we wouldn't "dominate" soccer, but I am pretty sure the US would be more likely than any other country to be the best team. I think the way the WC is set up you'd have to be MUCH better than everyone else (or very lucky) to dominate.

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There's this country in South America I think it's called Brazil.

As far as football is concern there is Brazil and then there's everyone else.

Even if the US invested every sporting resource into its team it would never reach that level.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch
 

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As far as football is concern there is Brazil and then there's everyone else.

Even if the US invested every sporting resource into its team it would never reach that level.

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Disclaimer: I know nothing about "football."

However, how can you say the US would never reach that level, when at best we put 3% of our "sporting resource" into soccer now, and still are competitive on the international level?

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Brazil have won 5 titles, and there hasn't been a WC final since 90 that hasn't had them in the final, sounds like domination to me.

They have also won all of their titles in the post world war era which is where many fans draw the line on being the modern era. SInce 1958 they have won all of those 5. In under 50 years they have done that, considering the level of play across the world, that is as close to utter domination that you will get

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As far as football is concern there is Brazil and then there's everyone else.

Even if the US invested every sporting resource into its team it would never reach that level.

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Disclaimer: I know nothing about "football."

However, how can you say the US would never reach that level, when at best we put 3% of our "sporting resource" into soccer now, and still are competitive on the international level?

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It really quite easy actually.

There are countries who invest gross amounts of money into the game and they are not able to replicate what occurs in Brazil. You can argue that countries like Italy, Germany, France etc whilst of a differing approach and pedigree are bottom line as good. I disagree

The reason is simple, in Brazil its not about money its about the naturally gifted talent which develops in the ghetto's and on the beach. No amount of money can buy this.
Brazil could field 2 maybe 3 teams in next years world cup and arguably they would all be competive.

There coach phrased it best when he recently said, for all other countries its about who they are going to take to the World Cup, for Brazil it's about who we leave behind. We have three players for every position.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

They are currently ranked #7 in the world and playing well, so this is possible.

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The FIFA rankings are flawed.

It is very improbable that the United States will be playing in the final next year.

Playing the likes of Brazil, Argentina, Italy etc is a little different to beating Trinidad & Tobago, Costa Rica, Guatemala. Beating these teams has generated the US teams FIFA ranking points thus the 7th place.

I do believe that the US deserves there place in the World Cup but anyone who knows anything about football understands that 3 direct qualification spots for CONCACAF is a joke

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

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Who cares???

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3 billion people watched the last WC final, so I would say about half the planet.

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As I said, I know little about football/soccer.

However, I still don't see why this makes it certain that the US would not reach Brazil's level. Of the countries you mentioned, we have over 4 times the population of all of them except Germany, where we have about 3.7 times the population. From that alone, we should be able to field a far superior team.

We also have a fairly diverse population (read: we're not all white guys with a 9 inch vertical). On average, we might not be as "skilled" and "athletic" as Brazil, but why the [censored] don't they whoop our asses in track and field in the Olympics?

Seriously, if you don't think the US would *probably* be the best team in the world if we cared about soccer as much as Brazil, then you are dead wrong.

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch it?
 

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anyone who knows anything about football understands that 3 direct qualification spots for CONCACAF is a joke

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well, so would be the amount of automatic spots that asia gets too. 3 automatic spots for concacaf is perfect. The World Cup is about the best competition from around the world, and promoting the game in lesser regions, which is why if concacaf had only 2 automatic spots that concacaf world cup qualification would be a farce like the oceania qualification process that the nation you live in goes through every four years

Re: If America got to the World Cup final, how many Yanks would watch
 

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Brazil have won 5 titles, and there hasn't been a WC final since 90 that hasn't had them in the final, sounds like domination to me.

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so they have won 5/12 WC's since 1958, and appeared in a few other finals. clearly, they are #1 in the world in this time, but they are not "dominating". I think you need to win at least 50% of the time to be "dominating" and probably more than that.

given the state of soccer across the world, "domination", as I define it, is extremely unlikely for any 1 country.

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anyone who knows anything about football understands that 3 direct qualification spots for CONCACAF is a joke

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well, so would be the amount of automatic spots that asia gets too. 3 automatic spots for concacaf is perfect. The World Cup is about the best competition from around the world, and promoting the game in lesser regions, which is why if concacaf had only 2 automatic spots that concacaf world cup qualification would be a farce like the oceania qualification process that the nation you live in goes through every four years

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Hello CONCACAF is a farce, Mexico and the US will qualify for the WC every four years with out fail, as Australia will always win Oceania. You remove the mentioned nations and both regions are about as bad as each other. Granted CONCACAF is probably of marginally higher quality. So how do you justify CONCACAF having 3.5 qualification spots and Oceania having 0.5.

Furthermore Austalia have to play Uruguay for a spot in the finals whilst sitting back and watching Trinidad and Tobago duke it out with Bahrain, how is this fair?