What most Americans want to see in a sport is action with a result. The problem with soccer is not unskilled players but the large pieces of action with no result. If you tell me an American football game is going to end 3-0, I'm not going to watch it. Ditto for lowscoring games in other sports. With soccer you wait for what seems like an eternity for one team to even mount an attack where there might be a shot on goal, and invariably at the last second one defensive player kicks the ball away and they go to the other end of the field to repeat the process. Lots of action, no result. I could stomach low scoring games, if there were more shots on goal. There aren't.
Great points. I agree with them all.
I photography about fifty college soccer games a season. Some of them are really good college teams (NCAA finalists and what-not.)
For the most part I think the problem is the inability of TV to capture what is going on, and missing the athleticism that happens. It is not dissimilar to hockey in that way.
When I shoot a college team that is good, and does not have a football program, the fans tend to be more soccer-smart and they are really into it. However, if there is a football program, the stands are filled with parents. And Girlfriends. Sometimes.
I appreciate the strategy and effort that goes into a well played game. But when I am standing around in a New England November on a Saturday night, I would rather be watching a football game than a 90 minute freeze fest.
Just my opinion.