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...but soccer will never fill the void left behind because its ethos is un-American.

I have never seen anyone fully explain this thought. What about sport is un-American?

"What about sport is un-American?"

I can't wait to hear the answer to this myself.

The short version:

The diving so prevalent in soccer, by which so much game advantage can be gained, is never going to be accepted here, but FIFA refuses to wipe it out, which would be simple through post match review and penalties with actual teeth.

The soccer shoot out is the dumbest tie breaker of all of the stick and/or ball sports. Americans hate ties so much that pigskin football was forced to implement effective tie breakers. Inconclusive results in sports are un-American. Even championship tennis and golf, (other euro imports) get what soccer seemingly does not—play on until someone caves.

Ersatz "American" soccer culture—the scarves in July, the stolen songs, clubs named after Real Madrid and some Mexican club, it's just freakin' goofy. You either have to consciously avoid the issue of how stupid this cultural misappropriation is, or join it to fit in.

Soccer is BORING. Fans call it action, but "the intricacies of passing" just aren't all that interesting to most people. Just like most people see rugby as an interminable series of laterals, most American sports fans don't consider "possession" as worth a darn as entertainment when watching it. When the game ends 0-0 and the analyst babble is about who looked better and possessed the ball more, the typical American sports fan rightfully rolls his eyes with a WGAF sentiment.

Our indigenous "boring" sport slot is filled by baseball, which is older than soccer, has by far more history here, and has by far the most live attendance at levels ranging from Little League, to high school, college, the Minor Leagues on up to MLB. Baseball would be the sport that would actually most profit from an influx of athletic talent by the demise of NFL and NCAA football. Baseball already has the "academy system" that MLS could only dream of comprehensively duplicating, and the average paycheck for a MLB player far outstrips that of all but a handful of MLS players, providing a more powerful economic incentive to partake than domestic soccer offers.