⚽️⚽️ ⚽️ Landon Donovan Suggests That the MLS Will Soon Rival the NFL, MLB, & NBA in Popularity in the U.S. ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️

American soccer star Landon Donovan recently made news by suggesting that Major League Soccer (MLS) is getting "very close" to the other major sports leagues in North America, and that within a span of less than two decades, it will rank either as third, or second, or even first, in terms of overall popularity.

Don't get me wrong, because I love soccer. And I do believe that the popularity of the sports has improved by leaps and bounds in the United States, and North America overall. The women's U.S. national team has won three World Cups, and gotten some bona fide stars. The men's side made huge news by not qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, although I remember when the U. S. not qualifying for the World Cup tournament was basically the norm, and it hardly even received a blip on the radar in nightly sports broadcasts. And even though the United States men's national team has not yet gotten very far in the World Cup tournament (in my lifetime, they only once got past the second round, and were quickly and thoroughly eliminated in the next game), there is a serious audience now for the World Cups, and it has become a huge sporting event here in the United States.

All of those are encouraging signs, and indeed, the MLS has grown far bigger and more popular than most had expected, as well. Admittedly, back in 1996, the inaugural season of the new league, I am not too sure I would have put money down on the possibility that the league would still be around in a decade, let alone more than two decades later. Yet, here it is, and it is still going strong.

My suspicion is this: that in the United States presently, the sport will continue to grow among certain segments of the population, particularly among those in the Latino communities. I agree with Donovan's assessment that young people do not seem to be watching baseball as much as they once did, and that football has it's issues. Indeed, I know some older people, and people my age, for that matter, who will never take the sport seriously. At least, not as a viewer sport. But my suspicion with this is also that the popularity of the sport in the United States will reflect the racial and cultural divides. Most whites will stick with the sports that they know and feel comfortable with, particularly football, baseball, and hockey. Soccer will likely not challenge the popularity of basketball among African-Americans, and possibly will not challenge football as the other very popular sport there, either.

Maybe MLS will increase in popularity. Indeed, it might already be challenging hockey in terms of popularity, because the NHL seems intent on shooting itself in the foot. There are too many teams for a sport that is not like the others, and which is mostly, traditionally, a cold weather sport. I know some people who are enthusiastic supporters of the southern expansion program, with franchises richly representing southern regions that tend to have warmer climates not at all conducive to playing ice sports. But what I see, time and time again, is an initial enthusiasm translating to huge crowd turnout and seemingly incredible team support and spirit for some major sports franchise to land in those cities, before being followed by an inevitable tapering off in enthusiasm and attendance once the novelty begins to wear off. This is particularly true if and when one of the other major sports leagues gives a franchise to one of these cities. Do you believe that the Vegas Golden Knights will still be selling arenas out once they are no longer built for immediate success, and especially once the Raiders come to town? Did the enthusiasm for hockey really translate to long-term success in Miami, or Carolina, or Phoenix, let alone Atlanta, where things got so bad, that they actually lost a team? Hockey feels almost like a bad joke at times, because of the southern expansion, as well as the stoppages in play, which seem to happen far more often, and far more seriously, in the NHL than it does with any of the other major leagues in North American sports.

That kind of nonsense has hurt the NHL. Rarely do I ever hear much in terms of sports updates about what is going on in the NHL, although back in the nineties they did. But these days, you really have to go specifically to hockey shows to get a good idea of what is going on in the NHL through the season. That might be different once the Stanley Cup playoffs roll around, I cannot really remember. But NHL coverage, and frankly, relevance, has significantly dropped off, and that may even be true in Canada, as well.

However, MLS would have a long way to go to begin to breach the popularity of the other sports. Most relatively casual sports fans can name famous franchises in the three major sports. Everyone can name the New York Yankees. The Los Angeles Lakers. The Dallas Cowboys. The New England Patriots. But most cannot name an MLS franchise. Maybe that is switched around a bit within the Hispanic community, but neither does the MLS does not have the long established traditions that the other sports do. They do not have the television audience of the NBA playoffs, and especially the NBA Finals. They do not have the instant name recognition of the World Series and/or the Super Bowl.

So, while Donovan may be right in some respects, and have made some fair points, he is wrong in many other ways, as well. The MLS is far enough behind that it will take more than just a few years, or at most, a decade and a half, for the MLS to make up that kind of ground. At least, that is true of the greater American sports fan population, although again, within the Latino communities, it may already have begun challenging those other sports in terms of popularity. And that is a first step.

Whatever may be the case down the road, one thing is for sure: MLS, and the sport of soccer more generally, has never been more popular in the United States than it is now!

Here are some stats, as well as the specifics of what Donovan recently told ESPN Deportes:

Fees for purchasing an MLS club have risen from around $40 million to $300m, and Donovan said these higher prices are evidence of more and more interest in the sport.  

"Finally, Major League Soccer is very close to the others," Donovan told ESPN Deportes. 

"I believe that, now, baseball, in my country, is for the older generation.  "Young people don't watch much baseball. American football [NFL] also has issues with security and health. Basketball [NBA] is in a good phase, but MLS is really growing. In five, 10, 15 years, I believe we will be the third, second or first sport in the country.  

"[That it costs] $300m means everything -- because, if companies or people with money are paying a lot, this tells you business is good and that the league is growing."

MLS closing in on NFL, NBA, MLB in U.S. - Landon Donovan by ESPN, February 13, 2019:

http://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/3774081/mls-closing-in-on-nfl-nba-mlb-in-us-landon-donovan