[Purple GOPer]

Soccer is hated:
1) It has been pushed as "the next big thing" for 20 years.
2) It's mostly played by foreigners so American's don't like it - until we start winning.
3) It doesn't have the generational culture of Baseball, Football, or Hockey.
4) Like Hockey it is difficult to watch on TV (no time outs, can't see all the action, the strategy is not apparent)
5) Americans like statistics and soccer doesn't have many.

That being said soccer is gaining on the NHL & NBA. Here are the attendance figure for the last year:

League Year Games Attendance Average
NFL 2004 256 17,270,486 67,463
MLB 2004 2,400 72,968,953 30,404
NBA 2004-05 1,230 21,302,835 17,319
NHL 2003-04 1,230 20,336,163 16,533
MLS 2004 150 2,333,797 15,559

BTW The people that said baseball is loosing people are wrong, it was slightly down in 02 & 03, but overall it is gaining popularity.

[jjbrouwer]

no time outs, can't see all the action, the strategy is not apparent

That's precisely why American football is hated by the rest of the world. It's stop-start all the way through the match and you are bombarded with tedious statistics and boring coaching strategies.