Nick Morgan, Sports Editor
As the Major League Soccer (MLS) season gets underway, therein lies an abundance of storylines. Will Atlanta United be able to reclaim its crown atop the league for the second time in its only three seasons? Will more world soccer superstars make their way to the states to finish their careers? And just how long will it be until American soccer gets on the same level as the rest of the world?
MLS has made way for a brand new team to enter its ranks in FC Cincinnati. The club has recently made the jump from the United Soccer League to MLS this past summer and will compete at the highest tier of American soccer for the first time in its short history. With the introduction of FC Cincinnati, MLS now has 24 clubs — an even 12 and 12 in each conference.
Names like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney, Bastian Schweinsteiger and many others are etched in the history books as some of the greatest to ever play the game, and they are making their way to MLS teams in droves. These players were all at one time decorated heroes at their respective clubs in Europe and have decided to make the move to America in their later years as they end their careers.
When asked about his move to MLS, former England and Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney said, “I knew that it’s a very competitive league. … I was probably a bit surprised, if I’m being honest, to the amount of quality which is in the league. … So, yeah, I think the league is at a very high standard.”
If one of the greatest Premier League players has these feelings about Major League Soccer, what’s keeping us so far behind other countries? The United States failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia last summer, and according the Elias Sports Bureau, the minutes for American born players played in MLS has decreased from 52.3 percent in 2013 to 42.2 percent in 2018. While it seems that American soccer in general is on the decline, we could see a future where soccer is one of the most popular sports in America — if not the most popular.
With baseball, football and basketball as its main competitors, soccer has taken the backseat when it comes to American viewership. However, over the last few years, game attendance and the number of people that tune in to games at home has increased exponentially.
Last season, Atlanta United was able to pack the new Mercedes-Benz Superdome with 74,000 soccer fans at most home games. The world cup final between Croatia and France this past July drew in 11.8 million viewers across all Fox platforms, and in 2014, when the U.S. team was taking part, the final drew in 17 million people, or roughly the same amount that tuned in to the NBA Finals last season. As more homes are turning on soccer instead of other sports, we could potentially be on the brink of a revolution in terms of the revitalization of American soccer.
