Posted on 06/28/2006 6:19:45 AM PDT by Tatze
World Cup Scores Only Small Audience
Only 6% Following Tournament Very Closely
Despite a high level of media coverage for the World Cup soccer tournament, three-fourths of Americans (78%) are not following the action very closely if at all. A Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 adults found that just 6% are following the tournament very closely.
Nine percent (9%) of men are paying close attention along with 3% of women.
The Super Bowl remains the biggest sport championship in terms of fan appeal. Thirty-five percent (35%) of Americans say it’s their favorite championship to watch. The World Series is the only other championship to reach double digits—12% of adults say it’s their favorite.
One-fourth of all Americans (25%) say they don’t want any sports championships.
Despite the general lack of interest in the World Cup by the US audience, the soccer tournament is more popular than the NBA basketball championship and the NHL’s Stanley Cup hockey title. Both of those events were being held at the same time as the World Cup.
Fourteen percent (14%) of Americans say they played soccer in an organized league at some point in their life.
Fifty-two percent (52%) of Americans believe there is a professional soccer league in the United States (and they’re right).
The survey was conducted before the U.S. soccer team was eliminated. However, few were surprised by the lack of success--just 5% of the nation’s adults thought it was very likely the U.S. team would win the tournament.
The national telephone survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted by Rasmussen Reports June 19-20, 2006. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
Speak for yourself. It was a great game. The Americans showed true grit. Have you ever been to an ice hockey game?
I find football boring. A game takes four hours to watch and you have what four minutes of actual action? Five seconds of play and then thirty seconds of standing around followed by another five second of play and then three minutes of commericals isn't that much fun to me.
LOL! You're right. Theismann did a lot less rolling around after that play than these guys do.
"The point was that you people who think soccer is for sissies are retarded."
"You people that seem to want to devote your life to tare down soccer seriously scare me."
_________
Look, man, I didn't say "soccer is for sissies" and I haven't "devoted my life to tare(sp) down soccer." I said soccer is safer than other sports; Frankly, I don't give soccer a thought until I see one of those cute soccer ball stickers next to a Kerry/Edwards sticker on the back of a Honda mini-van.
You're trying to make this personal. At this point, your opinion has become insignificant. I ignore it.
I live in Greensboro. Yes game 7 was an awesome game! I plan on trying to visit a few Canes games next year. My In-Laws are from Raleigh and they love the Canes more than I love the Dallas Cowboys! I think the physical demands of hockey are among the highest out there. I've only skated a few times but it was definately a workout.
I think Brandon Inge is an awesome all around athlete and at 29 years old is the team veteran. (there are older players but Inge has been a Tiger the longest.)
I've been watching a lot of the World Cup (played the liberal sport of soccer in HS back in the day). Some of the players' skill is mesmerizing (I'm thinking of Ronaldinho--guy has amazing moves). With the tight marking going on in this last round, it was a joy to watch some of the quick decisions that led to scoring chances. Of course, it was also painful to watch some of the ineptitude and lack of quality play (the Swiss-Ukraine game was, for the most part, embarrassing to watch).
It's hard to support a fan base without a nationally-televised professional league loved by many. I suppose the world championship of cricket would get similarly-small numbers here in the U.S.
But I suspect the trend is upward, because the kids seem to love the futbol.
I only watch every four years, but I find it tremendously entertaining. And I stood and cheered yesterday when Zidane scored his goal, helping ensure he gets to play at least one more match before retirement. I have fond memories of rooting for Les Bleues in 1998. The match with Brazil is going to be epic.
Sorry you didn't actually say "Sissies" but it was inferred. And you are definately wrong about it being safer. I could care less if you don't want to hear my opinion or not. I wasn't making it personal. I meant a broad group of people who visit every soccer thread with no comments but "Soccer sucks!!1!" or "Soccer is for wimps!."
Some of the best players who've every lived who play the game hard/properly don't suffer the kind of injuries the poster listed. But, all that being said, I was saying so with a wink. Some folks who play hard give it that something extra that can lead to an injury or two (or...er...ten).
I tend to think that the NFL has more than 100,000 rabid fans in the seats every Sunday during the season. Sixteen games at 50k+ each?
Do you live in Detroit? Are you a Tigers fan?
If so your lucky to have a very fun team to go watch.
And it still drew pathetic ratings in NC until the Stanley Cup. The media hyped it a lot but the TV ratings never were very good and the team has still only turned a profit once in ten years. Two bad seasons and every single bandwagoner will fall off.
I remember when we hosted the WC -- Brazil's Ronaldo was amazed he could walk in the streets without drawing a crowd (I think he wasn't very happy about it).
I live in Jackson county and I'm a loyal Tiger fan through thick and thin.
I heard these exact words some 30 years ago. I suppose it depends on what one's definition of eventually is.
I agree with the guy who said above they need to either get rid of or modify drastically off-sides to make the game more interesting and higher scoring. I also think they need to start yellow or red carding every dive, even if it is a review after the game. I also agree with your analysis of the Swiss-Ukraine game)
Please stop...I have a an 8 year old who, up until I started reading your posts, was going to learn to love baseball. If my wife reads your missives, I may just have to become a soccer dad (which, btw, I was this past Spring).
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