Soccer Is Becoming More Popular Than Baseball

It’s a new day, America. In what the rest of the world has known for decades, and even centuries, FINALLY the U.S. is starting to see the light that soccer is not a “boring-no scoring-diving-man-buns-a-plenty-sport” but one that is even BETTER than hockey, and about to overtake that sport Grandpa Carrabis uses as an excuse for a girlfriend, baseball. (Disclaimer, the hockey stat makes me sad, but I still believe puck is one of the best spectator sports in person).

According to a new Gallup poll on U.S. spectator sports, soccer has increased in popularity over the last four years with 7% of U.S. adults saying it’s their favorite sport (up 3%), nearly matching baseball (9%) and above hockey (4%). While football still holds strong in America at 37%, its numbers, like basketball (11%), are actually down a few percent (football dropped 2%, basketball dropped 1%, baseball dropped 5%). Soccer is the ONLY thing that’s actually growing. The “sport of the future” is FINALLY living up to that billing and boy am I surprised.

I’ve been covering the sport as a reporter and host for eight years now (humble brag), and have been one it’s champions along with Futbol Guy Barstool Sam, despite enduring years of taunts and laughs and general bullying by people who don’t know what the difference is between #8 and #6 (ha, those fools), but am surprised that the sport is actually growing in the U.S. Maybe I’ve been entrenched in soccer twitter far too long, one that’s negative about Jonathan Gonzalez chosing Mexico over the U.S., yet another Omar Gonzalez own-goal, the Columbus Crew leaving for Austin, or why Sacha Kljestan wasn’t invited into the last round of World Cup qualifying, to see that despite all of soccer’s current issues, it’s actually a sport that has fewer problems than some of America’s other pastimes.

I’ll take a 90-minute nil-nil match over domestic violence, steroids, and concussions any day of the week.