Manchester United Soccer 2005


BACK Soccer Guide Feature Article Manchester United Soccer 2005 Author: Computer Gaming World Byline: KATARZYNA DAWIDOWSKA When France won the 1998 World Cup, more than a million fans danced all night in the Champs-Elysees. In Latin America, Asia and Europe, streets empty as entire populations stay home, glued to their TVs, when their national team plays a big soccer game. This year's World Cup games in South Korea and Japan, to be broadcast this month in more than 200 countries and 41 languages, are expected to draw a record 30 billion fans worldwide. But while soccer reigns as the world's favorite televised sport, the 2001 World Monitor survey, by New York-based research firm Ipsos-Reid, found that in the United States, it still trails football, basketball and baseball. Although TV ratings are high for the World Cup, they remain consistently low for the sport otherwise. According to Ipsos-Reid, only 3 percent - or 8.5 million Americans - say soccer is their favorite sport to watch on TV. Behind those small numbers, however, are some very desirable demographics. Supported largely by blue-collar fans abroad, in the U.S. soccer attracts young, educated and affluent enthusiasts. According to the 2001 ESPN Sports Poll conducted by Philadelphia-based international marketing research firm TNS Intersearch, more than 30 percent of U.S. major-league soccer fans are ages 25 to 44, nearly 30 percent have a college degree or higher and 25 percent have an annual household income of $50,000 to $100,000. In addition, women make up more than 40 percent of soccer devotees. "Families are a huge market, but soccer attracts a lot of single, young professionals," says Tracy Schoenadel, executive director of the ESPN poll. While acknowledging that soccer's popularity in the U.S. doesn't begin to rival its foothold in Europe, TV sponsors are starting to wake up to attractive demographics of this small but devoted group of fans. For years soccer remained a niche sport in the U.S., watched on TV mostly by the foreign-born cheering their national teams. Labeled an "immigrant sport," the game wasn't picking up new fans, states Mike Woitalla, executive editor of Soccer America magazine. He says that immigrants, wanting to assimilate, often dropped soccer in favor of more traditional American sports when they moved to this country. Now that soccer has become more widely embraced by Americans, immigrants are returning to the fold, he adds. ... Back To Article Overview

Soccer Guide Feature Article

Manchester United Soccer 2005
Author: Computer Gaming World

Byline: KATARZYNA DAWIDOWSKA

When France won the 1998 World Cup, more than a million fans danced all night in the Champs-Elysees. In Latin America, Asia and Europe, streets empty as entire populations stay home, glued to their TVs, when their national team plays a big soccer game. This year's World Cup games in South Korea and Japan, to be broadcast this month in more than 200 countries and 41 languages, are expected to draw a record 30 billion fans worldwide.

But while soccer reigns as the world's favorite televised sport, the 2001 World Monitor survey, by New York-based research firm Ipsos-Reid, found that in the United States, it still trails football, basketball and baseball. Although TV ratings are high for the World Cup, they remain consistently low for the sport otherwise. According to Ipsos-Reid, only 3 percent - or 8.5 million Americans - say soccer is their favorite sport to watch on TV.

Behind those small numbers, however, are some very desirable demographics. Supported largely by blue-collar fans abroad, in the U.S. soccer attracts young, educated and affluent enthusiasts. According to the 2001 ESPN Sports Poll conducted by Philadelphia-based international marketing research firm TNS Intersearch, more than 30 percent of U.S. major-league soccer fans are ages 25 to 44, nearly 30 percent have a college degree or higher and 25 percent have an annual household income of $50,000 to $100,000. In addition, women make up more than 40 percent of soccer devotees. "Families are a huge market, but soccer attracts a lot of single, young professionals," says Tracy Schoenadel, executive director of the ESPN poll. While acknowledging that soccer's popularity in the U.S. doesn't begin to rival its foothold in Europe, TV sponsors are starting to wake up to attractive demographics of this small but devoted group of fans.

For years soccer remained a niche sport in the U.S., watched on TV mostly by the foreign-born cheering their national teams. Labeled an "immigrant sport," the game wasn't picking up new fans, states Mike Woitalla, executive editor of Soccer America magazine. He says that immigrants, wanting to assimilate, often dropped soccer in favor of more traditional American sports when they moved to this country. Now that soccer has become more widely embraced by Americans, immigrants are returning to the fold, he adds.

...

Back To Article Overview