SOCCER IN AMERICA: WHY IS IT SO POPULAR, AND HOW CAN ITS GROWTH BE ENSURED?

By Christopher Williams
December 14, 2021

I have spent 17 years of my life obsessing about soccer. However, I was always alone on that front growing up, as I was one of the few people in my hometown of Jim Thorpe, PA to like soccer.

Over the past three and a half years I’ve spent in Boston, though, I have noticed an increase in the amount of people seeking my guidance to help them get into soccer. In addition, I have seen a steady rise in the number of people wearing soccer memorabilia, like a jersey, jacket, or hat, around the city each day. It seems like  

That led me to develop two research questions for my capstone project: why is soccer only just becoming so popular in the United States now, and what can Americans do to continue to develop the country's passion for it?

I broke the story down into an article about the impacts of exposure on soccer in the U.S., a series of infographics displaying these impacts in a simpler manner, an audio story on Atlanta United’s grassroots community relations strategy, a TikTok video documenting the experience at a Man United Boston watchalong at The Greatest Bar in Boston, and a final podcast that tied all of my reporting over the past three months together.

In this podcast, I answered the above questions by dividing the episode into three sections: “culture,” “exposure,” and “growth.” I first spoke with international students José Ríos and Bo Feekins to get a feel for the difference in soccer culture between their respective countries and the U.S. and how they’ve seen soccer’s popularity change since living in the United States.

After that, I sought analysis from two experts regarding the impact of increased broadcasting rights and exposure on American soccer fans. I first spoke with marketer and Emerson College sports communication professor Chris Toronyi about what elements of marketing led to soccer’s rise in popularity in the United States, and then I spoke to renowned soccer journalist Grant Wahl, formerly of Sports illustrated and currently with CBS Sports as an analyst, about the cultural shift that exposure has played in the U.S. soccer scene. 

Once my first question was answered through my reporting, I dove into answering my second question: what can Americans do to continue to develop the country's passion for it? This was answered in my third section, which I labeled as “growth.” I spoke to Atlanta United season ticket holder Will Dean about the positive impact the club’s grassroots community relations has played in gaining fans from across the city and state. I then spoke to Raymundo Pastor about Man United Boston and why he attends games every weekend, and I lastly referred back to my interviews with Wahl and Toronyi to provide insight on how the U.S. hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup will benefit soccer’s popularity in America.

Please feel free to listen to my 12-minute podcast above and visit the other work I have done for my capstone project, which is under the “Multimedia Capstone” tab.