When I was in New York 18 months ago there were quite a few people wearing football shirts actually (although predominantly premier league and Barca/Real....not so many MLS ones). It already arrived, now it's only going to get bigger.

I really enjoyed USA's contribution to the World Cup, they played their socks off. I suppose a lot of their future success will depend on to what extent they can replace their ageing stars.

Clint Dempsey is 31, Landon Donovan (who I know wasn't in the WC but has been a big player) is 32, Tim Howard is 35, Beasley is 32.

But looking at Julian Green, perhaps the future is bright forthem!

one thing I would be curious about is how americans will react to big transfer fees being paid between clubs if MLS really did start to compete with the more established leagues for players in their prime

the established US sports don't have mechanism where a player can be bought for a direct cash amount as the trades system is usually an exchange of players.

in addition, the established sports have a lot of controls in place to try and avoid the clubs with the financial clout from being able to dominate to the degree we see in European football, with the way the draft works and salary caps.

This is not an exaggeration. Even with the protection too many of them end up with serious brain damage. Look at Junior Seau and Ben Utecht.

You've never seen a Samoa v Fiji Rugby League match, then.

Tim Howard was interviewed live on all the breakfast TV shows in the US this morning.

All of the interviewers quizzed him about soccer finally being accepted and popular in the States, so it seems the general view is that the sport has arrived there at long last, rather than a novelty.

i guess the test is the 3 years inbetween. gold cup doesnt really have the same alure i guess lol

although MLS attendences/ratings are so highest ever

Well to my mind it was a good clean game without some of the obvious cheating that takes place in some many other games that have been shown in the WC.

I can see NBC taking a much bigger interest in football/soccer from now on & should that be the case then we will be seeing a lot more of this reporter ........ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Lowe ......who comes across quite well (IMO)

One good thing is that American viewers are becoming increasingly knowledgeable about the sport and the intricacies and rules of it. If they're that familiar with it, then they it's already halfway to being really popular.

Certainly the coverage and support has been much bigger in the US this time. I heard from some friends in the US who were watching the game yesterday having hardly seen a football match before.

However, give it a few weeks and I'm sure it will all be forgotten. It will be Tim Who not Tim Howard. it's like the Olympics here, we get very excited about these unusual sports for a few weeks once every 4 years but then soon go back to our regular lives.

For sure, but those viewing figures were massive (around 20 million per US game and the figures from last night are even higher). Can you imagine the audience if the US got to a quarter final or semi final in future?

They're hosting the Copa America in 2016

I think people are being a bit optimistic about all of this. There's absolutely no way soccer will consistently get more popular than American football, Baseball or Basketball. Americans much prefer their own sports and its part of their culture to do so. Heck after all the years of premier league and world cup action footballs not even the most popular sport in Ireland!

In theory yes, but I think a US win in the World Cup would change everything (which would be a tall order of course, but not inconceivable)

NBC lost rights to MLS effective next season to ESPN and Fox. ESPN will stream all MLS matches online (the ones that aren't televised on Fox Sports 1, that is) free of charge.

Mind you, MLS ratings are nothing compared to PL games (which ARE on NBC) even considering time difference.

are you sure? i thought it was in chile, then brazil?

great news if true though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copa_América_Centenario

Eric Wynalda with a scorcher of a hot take.

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2...in-weird-rant/

Lol I doubt most people have seen such a thing.

Well I guess that if NBC wish to get the rights back then they can easily write the cheque & I also doubt if football will overtake home sports any time soon (if ever)
Still this WC has put the USA team a good deal higher than was the case in the past & this of course will not go un-noticed by the movers & shakers.

BTW is NBC's PL coverage available online ?, as I would not mind watching R Low's take on events.

It isn't as popular as it everywhere else simply as they aren't brought up with it like the majority of the world are. I'm not talking of participation, I'm talking of coverage. All the talk some Americans make of it being 'boring' or a 'kids sport' is quite clearly nonsense as it's the most popular sport in the world. A few Yanks also believe it's only as popular as it is due to the fact other countries aren't as rich as them and it's the easiest sport to play in terms of finance. They call it a 'Third World Sport'.

It doesn't look good on Americans that slaughter the sport and class it as inferior to the ones they alone play but if we were born there I imagine we'd have similar views. It's a pity that so many from such a passionate sports loving country miss out on the most passionate sports tournament of all.

I think that's beginning to change though. One of the main issues they had with the sport in the past was that it was so low scoring, but as they're getting more and more familiar with the game and it's intricacies, they're starting to realise that even a 1-0 win can be hugely dramatic.

Compared to where it was say pre WC 94, I'd say it has come on leaps and bounds in interest and popularity.

There does seem to be a fair few of Americans who seem somehow scared of the sport becoming more popular. There seems to be a genuine hatred for it in some quarters that other sports don't attract

It's like that with a certain demographic across all sports. Formula One struggles here with some people because they just like NASCAR or Indycars and other domestic series. Having said that, when formula one finally got to use a good track at Austin a year or two ago people have started to take an interest.

Those of us who are outward looking and take an interest in sport and events around the world would love to see soccer (i know, football) be more successful here. It's likely to grow more particularly on the east and west coasts where the biggest diverse populations are and also in Hispanic areas in other parts of the country such as Southern and Western Texas.

Those people are probably very much of the insular variety. Soccer is one of the few sports where the USA can compete as a team on the world stage, and even most Americans are probably aware now the World Cup is the biggest and most prestigious event on the planet outside of the Olympic Games.

It's clear we've reached a point where the World Cup will be widely followed in the US. Thanks to their insanely easy qualification route they are guaranteed to make every single World Cup finals for the foreseeable future so it's a pattern which is difficult to see being broken. The next step is to see whether they are willing to follow the national team in other competitions in non World Cup summers. The Gold Cup is a bit of a joke so maybe that isn't the best way to judge it but the Copa America in the US in 2016 should be pretty big.

You could imagine a scenario where following the national team in an international competition becomes a regular summer thing for America. Their traditional sports are in a lull in the summer months with only Baseball active. So a couple of weeks where football takes centre stage every year seems possible. However when it comes to the Autumn and Winter months Baseball gets to the playoffs, the NBA and NHL start new seasons and the king of American sport, NFL returns. Then all the conversation will be back on those sports and football will be ignored again until the next summer.