Hockey on its Heels?
When MLS fans talk about growing the league and making it fully mainstream, the target they have in mind is usually the NHL. Soccer will never eclipse football or baseball, the argument goes, but with time and effort it could easily knock off hockey for a place in the dubious Big Four category. Well…:
The CONCACAF Gold Cup final attracted 41 percent more television households in the United States than the Stanley Cup finals clincher — and that was just for the soccer game’s Spanish-language telecast.
That’s deceptive, of course, since Univision caters specifically to a Mexican audience. The article also notes that Fox Soccer doesn’t get Neilsen ratings (why, by the way?), so popularity among the white-guy audience is hard to gauge. But that’s a serious headline at the very least, and one that helps jolt traditional media in the way that even widespread online popularity can’t.
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Max J. Rosenthal
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I watched much of the Gold Cup tournament — including every United States game — on Telefutura and Univision. (Had to tape the semifinal and final, though, since I was at those games.) I’m not Hispanic and don’t speak any Spanish, but often find myself watching soccer on Spanish-language TV, because — unlike most English-language televised soccer in the US — the Spanish-language networks are free-to-air. And it’s not like you have to understand Spanish to get what’s going on, and the pure enthusiasm of the Spanish-language commentary might even enhance the experience compared to having to pay for cable and then pay extra for the Fox Soccer Channel. I’m sure there’s a much bigger white-guy audience than just me. (Too bad, I guess, that mine isn’t a Nielsen household.)
Another interesting statistic: the same day as the Gold Cup final happened in Chicago, Chicago’s two Major League Baseball teams were playing each other in interleague play — quite a big deal in the local media. The finale drew an attendance of 39,194 — compared to at least 60,000 fans at Soldier Field for the Gold Cup final. But from the mainstream media attention, you wouldn’t know it. Though the Tribune’s got a good writer dedicated to the soccer beat (and what coverage they did have was good), neither it, nor the Sun-Times gave as much attention to the Gold Cup final as they did to that weekend’s local baseball. For the front-page and inside pictures, I actually picked up a copy of the free Spanish-language daily Hoy…
That’s a good point, I watch DC matches on Telefutura gladly. My point is more that FSC is a network that caters mostly to a demographic US soccer wants, which a) existing soccer fans of other leagues and b) middle/upper middle class households with lots of disposal income. Would LOVE to see how the game faired there.