Quote:
Originally Posted by JRutledge
Participation in a youth capacity is different than what happens in actual dollars for most communities and schools.
|
Agree. But still, 13.6 million soccer participants ain't nothing to sneeze at.
Maybe not in Illinois, but we are certainly a country that "cares about soccer".
Pratt and Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, in East Hartford, Connecticut (home of the University of Connecticut football Huskies) seats 41,000. USA Soccer has men's, or women's, games there about twice a year, and the stadium is almost filled to capacity for these games. Granted, fans are, for the most part, parents (soccer Moms) with children, or immigrants watching their home country, but soccer is certainly a lot more popular now compared to when I went to high school back in ancient times.
Soccer certainly isn't anywhere near up there with basketball, and football, but it's become a pretty popular sport over the past fifty years. Things change. At one time the biggest sports in the United States were horse racing, and boxing. Look at what happened to them.