Quote:
Originally Posted by eriqjaffe
Soccer (and, to a lesser extent, hockey) are still predominantly niche sports. Basketball may not be much more popular, but it's decidedly higher profile.
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Soccer has the advantage of accessibility over ice hockey (and a head start in this nation). Like baseball, basketball, or football, any kid can have makeshift equipment and literally play it anywhere they want to. And it's pretty much free to play. Ice hockey doesn't have that and it costs 5 times as much for a nosebleed seat at an NHL game than for the same seat in a NBA arena. It costs me $8 to see my local minor league baseball team. It costs me $20 to see my local minor league hockey team. The entire country has a "soccer mom" youth system that's been in place for over 20 years. Youth hockey is just barely starting in this country on the broadest levels and it suffers from the accessibility issues I've mentioned.
And when people account for the popularity (or alleged lack thereof) of soccer in this country, they completely fail to account for the Spanish speaking population, for which there is no question of its viability as a popular sport. I'm not sure why they don't count when people measure up the popularity and commercial viability of sports in this country.