Soccer Versus Football: Sports and Sponsorship the American Way

There is a intuit why Americans are disillusioned with what the rest of the world calls football. In addition to being a low-sometimes-no-scoring game, soccer lacks the level of aggression that so defines the American culture. The methodical focus and relative politeness of soccer makes matches monotone to American-breed sports senses.

Absent in soccer are the pretentious--even brass--players who know that part of the game involves putting on a good show for the viewing audience and sponsors. In football, cheerleaders and sometimes marching bands help enunciate the pep for slow-moving games. In soccer, cheering and spontaneous sing-a-longs are solely fan driven. Also fan-driven is the sea of national pride displayed by each country and the camaraderie between teams and their players. In America, being from the same country rarely equates to unity between the States. Football is a competition not an opening to fraternize.

Sport Soccer

More spellbinding than the first hour and ten minutes of a soccer match are the fans and sometimes, the commercials. More spellbinding in the first hour and ten minutes of a football game is the game.

In many ways, the international soccer audience is very much like the brands that keep them--self-promoting. In America, name brands plaster all things movable and stationary but individuals tend to drive promotions through word of mouth. In an ad overdosed society, it takes much more to garner viewer concentration and ultimately buyer loyalty than the “Because I said so,” advent so prominent in American sports—especially football. Soccer seems to carry an infectious, “Because we said so,” free-for-all. It makes a variation when an entire country calls a national holiday, stops civil wars, and postpones major elections for something they believe in. No American sport has that type of influence.

It will take a small more than World Cup 2006 to convince Americans that soccer is the premier game of choice. In addition to appeasing an international fan-base, sponsors must perceive that Americans are often easier convinced to lead than to follow.