Americans Remain Football’s Fairweather Fans

As a sport enjoyed by young people, football (soccer to American readers) is incredibly popular. But when it comes to supporting local and national teams, America’s commitment to the game doesn’t resonate as strongly. This is true, of course, until America starts to do well on the world stage.

The 2014 world cup was a television and streaming watermark in the United States. More than 25 million viewed the United States’ drawn game versus Portugal, making it the most viewed football/soccer game in American history. But now that the United States has missed out on World Cup glory, most American viewers have tuned out.

To their credit, America’s football obsessives are exactly that, obsessive. They understand the beauty of the game, and they find it teams and players from all over the world, not just from upon their home soil. Sadly, these are in the minority, but this could be changing. Let’s take a look at the factors that are turning football into a truly American sport.

America’s Slow-Growing Love Affair With Football

There are a number of factors that are driving more and more Americans into irrevocable fandom. Here are three of the most significant.

• Sports Betting. Americans love to bet on sports, but their ability to do so is sometimes limited legally. By betting on international markets by the right channels, Americans are able to bet on football while being less likely to run afoul of the law. When you are ready to bet, make sure to check 188Bet for the latest odds. The United States fans often like to glom onto the enormous sports gambling scene in the UK and elsewhere. For the most part, we’re glad to have them.
• The Growing Hispanic Population. Anyone who has ever heard President Donald Trump speak knows that there are many Hispanic people who live in the United States. Many of these families bring their cultural tradition of football into the United States, where children teach it to their non-Hispanic friends, excel in local leagues, and form the bedrock of American football viewing culture.
• Football is Safer Than Football. Football (not American football) is the fastest growing youth sport in the United States. It is second only to basketball in participation levels. Part of the reason that football is on the rise among youth leagues in the US is because American football is so dangerous for young people. The growing wave of fear among parents about the irreversible damage that may be wrought on their children’s growing brains is causing them to take them out of school American football teams. Soccer and basketball are getting the most of these sporting immigrants, and soccer seems to be getting the most.

For all of these reasons, more Americans than ever are becoming aware of football. This is turning them from fairweather fans who only watch when the national team is doing well to fans of the game itself. Once they’re hooked they can never go back to the way it was before. In the coming years, expect football to become a truly American sport.