# Soccer vs. Football: Which one will comet dominate as the biggest spectator sport? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 5, 2011, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803 "2011-05-05T03:36:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/61 "2011-05-06T12:25:05Z")
Maybe, certainly possible but doesn’t Maverick get the girl? I’m not overly convinced that’s on Rondembo’s agenda. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/62 "2011-05-06T14:02:29Z")
The sport which willl dominate the world’s airwaves in 100 years is whichever one the Chinese end up deciding is their favorite. Which probably won’t be either football of the American or rest-of-world version. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/63 "2011-05-06T14:27:04Z")
According to Star Trek Enterprise the sport of the future is Water Polo. You have been warned. ---
**Author:** ![Rondembo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dbc845/32.png) [@Rondembo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rondembo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/64 "2011-05-06T15:07:40Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Leaving aside the palpable homo-erotica, it must be really good that NFL telecasts have high production values and great commercials, if you need to pad out two hours of broadcast based around 11 minutes of action. > > Man, you don’t want to watch sport, what you want is endless repeats of Independence Day intercut with Budweiser, Marlborough and Mustang ads. Please, a NFL game is infinitely more exciting to watch than soccer. Soccer is basically a bunch of skinny guys most Americans have never heard of kicking a ball and running around for 90 minutes while the fans riot out of boredom and in the end the game ends 0-0. How can anyone watch a sport in which no one scores and a game ends in a tie? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/65 "2011-05-06T15:15:58Z")
> [@Rondembo](#): > > Please, a NFL game is infinitely more exciting to watch than soccer. Soccer is basically a bunch of skinny guys most Americans have never heard of kicking a ball and running around for 90 minutes while the fans riot out of boredom and in the end the game ends 0-0. How can anyone watch a sport in which no one scores and a game ends in a tie? Millions do; millions more than watch NFL football. And they don’t require cheerleaders, expensive commercials, halftime shows, celebrity appearances, “wardrobe malfunctions” or other distractions to keep them tuned in. Funny, that. ---
**Author:** ![Rondembo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dbc845/32.png) [@Rondembo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rondembo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/66 "2011-05-06T15:16:10Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > The Prius, of course, being remarkably successful and the Hummer being completely out of production for almost a year now. > > Seriously, man, I say this as an American football fan, put some thoughts into your analogies. Perphaps not an appropriate analogy, so how about this: Soccer is a Panini sandwich - mostly foreign and slightly effeminate, liked primarily by liberal cosmopolitan euro-wannabes in cities like Seattle, skinny and small men eat this in order to fit into their european metrosexual clothes Football is BBQ ribs - masculine, mainstream, liked by patriotic red-meat star and striples loving rugged individualists, big and full of exciting flavors, for large men who like protein and build muscles through weigh training. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/67 "2011-05-06T15:18:04Z")
> [@Rondembo](#): > > Please, a NFL game is infinitely more exciting to watch than soccer. Soccer is basically a bunch of skinny guys most Americans have never heard of kicking a ball and running around for 90 minutes while the fans riot out of boredom and in the end the game ends 0-0. How can anyone watch a sport in which no one scores and a game ends in a tie? I’ve watched a number of games of both forms of football and have seen exciting games in both and boring games in both. You really cannot be so declarative… ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/68 "2011-05-06T15:20:06Z")
> [@Rondembo](#): > > Soccer is a Panini sandwich - mostly foreign and slightly effeminate, liked primarily by liberal cosmopolitan euro-wannabes in cities like Seattle, skinny and small men eat this in order to fit into their european metrosexual clothes I dare you to go to a Millwall game and say that. > [@](#): > > Football is BBQ ribs - masculine, mainstream, liked by patriotic red-meat star and striples loving rugged individualists, big and full of exciting flavors, for large men who like protein and build muscles through weigh training. Again with the musclemen. To paraphrase the bear in that joke, you’re not here for the football, are you… ---
**Author:** ![Rondembo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dbc845/32.png) [@Rondembo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rondembo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/69 "2011-05-06T16:45:59Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I dare you to go to a Millwall game and say that.Again with the musclemen. To paraphrase the bear in that joke, you’re not here for the football, are you… You know what I mean. We Americans like bigness and power. We want our athletes to be 7 feet tall, 280lb and be able to bench press 400lbs. We don’t take too kindly to athletes that weight 160lb and are 5’10, they get made fun of in our sports for being little weaklings. Americans simply aren’t impressed by soccer players, and the fact they’re also pretty boys who spend too much on hair product doesn’t help. ---
**Author:** ![Rondembo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dbc845/32.png) [@Rondembo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rondembo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/70 "2011-05-06T16:49:38Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Millions do; millions more than watch NFL football. And they don’t require cheerleaders, expensive commercials, halftime shows, celebrity appearances, “wardrobe malfunctions” or other distractions to keep them tuned in. > > Funny, that. NFL football is taking over England, it will likely take over Europe as well. Its just too high production and too impressive as a spectacle to ignore. Soccer just doesn’t compare, its just boring to watch that big field with little guys running around kicking a ball, there’s nothing spectacular or impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/71 "2011-05-06T17:48:02Z")
> [@Rondembo](#): > > NFL football is taking over England No, it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/72 "2011-05-06T17:49:33Z")
> [@Rondembo](#): > > NFL football is taking over England, it will likely take over Europe as well. Its just too high production and too impressive as a spectacle to ignore. Your pronouncement is premature, at best. I think the best you can say, today, is that the NFL is making some inroads in England. The NFL plays **one game a season** in England. Roger Goodell (NFL commissioner) has indicated that the NFL would like to, someday, have a London-based franchise. The NFL used to have a European-based developmental league. It folded a few years back, at least in part because attendance wasn’t great (based on what’s listed [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_Europe#Attendance), their average attendance was only about 1/2 to 1/3 of the capacity of the stadiums in which they played). And, at the time it folded, NFL Europe had completely pulled out of the U.K.; they had 5 German teams, and one Dutch team. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/73 "2011-05-06T18:10:35Z")
> [@Rondembo](#): > > Perphaps not an appropriate analogy, so how about this: > > Soccer is a Panini sandwich - mostly foreign and slightly effeminate, liked primarily by liberal cosmopolitan euro-wannabes in cities like Seattle, skinny and small men eat this in order to fit into their european metrosexual clothes > > Football is BBQ ribs - masculine, mainstream, liked by patriotic red-meat star and striples loving rugged individualists, big and full of exciting flavors, for large men who like protein and build muscles through weigh training. I hear soccer fans don’t care about how their light beer tastes either. Can you just go ahead and say “Soccer is gay”? We all know that’s what you’re getting at. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/74 "2011-05-06T18:16:07Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I hear soccer fans don’t care about how their light beer tastes either. > > Can you just go ahead and say “Soccer is gay”? We all know that’s what you’re getting at. Bear lovers wouldnt think “gay” is a slur, hence the whole effeminate angle. At least that’s the act **Rondembo** went with. ---
**Author:** ![Rondembo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dbc845/32.png) [@Rondembo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rondembo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/75 "2011-05-06T18:20:21Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I hear soccer fans don’t care about how their light beer tastes either. > > Can you just go ahead and say “Soccer is gay”? We all know that’s what you’re getting at. I’m not going to insult soccer fans, but that is the general sentiment around here, especially among mainstream sports fans. Soccer is just so…well…not masculine, lets put it that way. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/76 "2011-05-06T18:21:09Z")
> [@Rondembo](#): > > Soccer is a Panini sandwich - mostly foreign and slightly effeminate, liked primarily by liberal cosmopolitan euro-wannabes in cities like Seattle, skinny and small men eat this in order to fit into their european metrosexual clothes. If you want to see something interesting, try googling “soccer WAGs” (WAG is an acronym for “wives and girlfriends”). If soccer players are effeminate or metrosexual, it certainly doesn’t seem to be stopping them from getting some awesomely hot babes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/77 "2011-05-06T18:37:41Z")
> [@Rondembo](#): > > I’m not going to insult soccer fans, but that is the general sentiment around here, especially among mainstream sports fans. Soccer is just so…well…not masculine, lets put it that way. Do you like gladiator movies? ---
**Author:** ![Rondembo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dbc845/32.png) [@Rondembo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rondembo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/78 "2011-05-06T18:39:37Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Do you like gladiator movies? I enjoyed the movie Gladiator. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/79 "2011-05-06T18:44:56Z")
> [@Rondembo](#): > > I’m not going to insult soccer fans, but that is the general sentiment around here, especially among mainstream sports fans. Soccer is just so…well…not masculine, lets put it that way. Can you define “here”? And don’t say Aemrica, but I am in American, and I don’t see that as the sentiment. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_from\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Man\_from\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_from_Mars)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803/80 "2011-05-06T18:51:35Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Can you define “here”? And don’t say Aemrica, but I am in American, and I don’t see that as the sentiment. When I go to MLS games, I see a lot of “white” Americans who are very knowledgeable of the game and enjoy it. I don’t know what world Rondembo lives in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soccer-vs-football-which-one-will-comet-dominate-as-the-biggest-spectator-sport/580803.md?page=5)