There is a scene early in the movie, “Major League,” when Cleveland Indians radio announcer Harry Doyle (Bob Uecker) looks out the press box into an empty stadium, shouts, “Listen to the roar of the crowd!” and sticks his microphone out the window, only to pick up the faint sounds of two people clapping.
Eric Wynalda can relate, except his scene wasn’t in a movie. When Wynalda, a three-time World Cup player, began his career as a television commentator, there often were no roars in the stadium because there were no bodies in the seats. He just wasn’t allowed to acknowledge the quiet or the emptiness.
“Producers would be in your ear and you’d hear them tell the cameramen, ‘Whatever you do, don’t shoot the empty seats!’” he said. “There wasn’t anybody there. I mean, just maybe a small group. But we always tried not to show it.”
It’s possible soccer has ascended to the point that it doesn’t need to hide from the truth anymore. The sport probably never will stir the masses to the extent of football, baseball or basketball in the U.S., but it may not have to.
The World Cup’s U.S. broadcast partners, ABC-ESPN-ESPN2 and Univision, claim record viewer counts. The U.S. team’s opening win over Ghana touched off a frenzy in social media: There reportedly had been over 15 million World Cup references on Twitter by Wednesday. Video clips of viewing partners and delirious fans in the streets following the Americans’ opening win are all over YouTube. MLS, which expands to Atlanta in 2017, has seen impressive growth in TV ratings and overall revenue.
Soccer even has crossed into the mainstream. Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert was so swept up in soccer fever after the U.S. win that he included this in his bit the other night: “This is a huge day for America’s sports fans, who have been excited about the World Cup ever since they noticed it was happening, which was shortly after the NBA finals ended Sunday.”
OK. Still a punchline. But it’s progress.
There have been two absolutes when it comes to soccer in the U.S.: 1) Everybody says it’s about to take off; 2) It never does.
Sure, people get into the World Cup. But we also get into the Olympics, and a week later it’s like women’s figure skating and the men’s butterfly never existed, unless we happen to buy a box of Wheaties.
Wynalda, a Fox broadcaster and currently technical director and coach of the Atlanta Silverbacks of the second-tier North American Soccer League, believes it doesn’t matter where soccer ranks on the sports landscape. He said the overall numbers are there.
“The bottom line is there’s enough soccer people now,” he said. “That wasn’t the case before. I don’t feel like the sport needs to compete with other sports like we used to.”
He might be right. Soccer seems to carry a new level of cool with younger sports fans.
MLS, which began in 1996 with 10 franchises, now has 19, with four more on the way (including Atlanta). The Seattle franchise averages 40,000 fans per game, although that’s almost double the next closest team. The league’s atendance average is 18,500. Falcons owner Arthur Blank must be convinced about the league’s viability because he just invested in a franchise. Either that or he needed another tenant for his new football stadium, like a TV network needing programming.
MLS wisely is promoting the fact that 22 of its players are playing in the World Cup. The sport and the league presumably would get a nice boost if the U.S. team defeats Portugal on Sunday and/or advances to the next round.
“This is the United States. We like winners, we want winners all the time,” said former U.S. goalie Tony Meola, who also played in three World Cups and in MLS. “It also helps that people are watching the World Cup in prime time instead of having to get up at 4 a.m., which has happened in the past.”
There have been false starts with soccer before in this country. Many expected women’s pro soccer to blast off following the success of U.S. teams in the 1996 Olympics and the 1999 women’s World Cup. That rocket got about two feet off the ground.
There have been, according to one website, over 30 professional soccer leagues in the U.S (men’s, women’s, outdoor, indoor), dating as far back as 1894 (American League of Professional Football lasted one year). Most are defunct.
The original NASL (1968-84), which included the Atlanta Chiefs, had 24 teams at its peak in 1980. Four years later, the league was down to nine teams. In March 1995, only Minnesota and Toronto wanted to continue. So the league pulled the plug. Two teams wouldn’t create a lot of drama in the playoff race.
I covered the Los Angeles Aztecs for a year or two. There’s nothing quite so depressing as 3,000 fans in the 105,000-seat Rose Bowl.
But things have changed.Wynalda looks around and sees sold-out games and fans wearing jerseys.
“It’s finally to the point where the fans are real,” he said. “We need more shots of the crowd.”
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