Who decides how soccer is reported in the United States? Let’s lay-off ESPN for five minutes – Cardillo at That’s On Point explains how news comes down the wires, and why it matters that the Associated Press does not have a national soccer writer.

After ESPN, the Associated Press probably influences the minds of sports fans and sports editors more than anything. Just about everyone uses the AP stories, from newspapers to websites. So if the AP decides to send a stringer out to the Tour de Kazakhstan, it might find its way into some kind of printed or digital media.

And even when AP does send someone, there’s a very large chance they have no knowledge or interest in the game at hand. I remember meeting an AP journalist in the Fire pressbox who looked like she’d rather be having a frontal lobotomy than covering that afternoon’s game (though to be fair, I’d rather have had a frontal lobotomy than watched most Fire games this season myself).