# Why did  “Soccer”  not catch on in the U.S./Canada

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-soccer-not-catch-on-in-the-u-s-canada/109641>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [May 18, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-soccer-not-catch-on-in-the-u-s-canada/109641 "2002-05-18T00:08:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![dalovindj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dalovindj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalovindj)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-soccer-not-catch-on-in-the-u-s-canada/109641/61 "2002-06-01T15:02:40Z")

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Because it is B-O-R-I-N-G. See the related Simpsons episode if you want a cite.

DaLovin’ Dj

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**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-soccer-not-catch-on-in-the-u-s-canada/109641/62 "2002-06-01T23:50:50Z")

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Thank you for your valuable insight Mister DJ. We’re all better off for that comment.

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2002, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-soccer-not-catch-on-in-the-u-s-canada/109641/63 "2002-06-02T04:09:34Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by greenteeth \*  
> \*\*2. Americans prefer to watch individualistic games. Soccer is too much a collectivist endeavor. Baseball is definately a very individualistic game and football is in many respects also. Basketball and hockey tend to be more team oriented (unless your Shaq or something) and is probably why they are a distant 3rd and 4th in popularity. Americans like to see individual people succeed and be hero’s (Babe Ruth, Joe Montana, etc.) \*\*

I’m not sure if this is true or not, but I am quite sure that with respect to **baseball,** individualism isn’t why it’s popular. Baseball is popular simply because at one point it was the ONLY major team sport in the United States. The major leagues are the oldest continually operating professional sports league in the world; the National League had been around for years before basketball was even INVENTED. By the time the modern NFL and NHL were in place, they had been playing the World Series for a few decades, and the World Series only came around after the National League had already been around for a few decades. And the NBA came along even later than that.

Baseball was being played by Americans throughout the country when football, hockey and basketball did not exist as we know them today. It had a huge, huge head start on all other team sports in the USA, decades to establish itself, and was unquestionably the most-played team game by Americans for over a century.

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