IT’S A FANS GAME
The Becks effect has made football the game kids in America want to watch, and US club owners say: We’re on a rocket ship..it used to be unthinkable but we can one day become the No.1
DAVID BECKHAM has played a massive part in putting football on its way to becoming America’s No.1 sport, according to top officials there.
It might have been an unthinkable statement a few years back, but stats and graphs point to football kicking the likes of NFL, baseball, and ice hockey into the sidings.
The USA are joint hosts for the 2026 World Cup, with the prospect of shattering attendance records for the tournament already being taken as a formality.
Four years on from FIFA’s Qatar experiment in 2022, the States is ready to put on an absolute showstopper.
The 23rd World Cup will be shared between North America, Canada, and Mexico, with Portland Timbers’ owner Merritt Paulson declaring that a new live attendance record will be set, smashing the one America holds.
No one has surpassed the USA 1994 figure, when the tournament was still only 24 teams. A total of 3.57million people passed through the turnstiles back then, averaging out at 68,626 per game.
Paulson (above) said: “This is a sport where sponsors and broadcasters want to be – it’s very much ‘young America’.
“The next World Cup here will blow the roof off. We will surpass the prior record, which is still the highest in World Cup history. We will surpass that. We have bigger stadiums.
“It could even be bigger than the Olympics – I think it will be. Already, the World Cup feels a lot bigger than the Olympics.”
Paulson says football is becoming a legitimate rival to the previously-unchallenged big-three sports. It is becoming an unstoppable force as young Americans embrace something with global appeal. Los Angeles FC president Tom Penn (left) said: “I wouldn’t like to predict exactly how quickly this will go, but we’re on a rocket ship right now.
“Can I see it becoming the No.1 sport over here? Yes, 110 per cent. If it was unthinkable at one point, it’s certainly not now. Things change and I love the trajectory of this league and sport. Already, I’ve seen polling which says that in ages 18 and under, soccer is
No.2.”
And no one should underestimate the part Beckham has played, as he embarks on his franchise as an owner of new-boys Inter Miami.
The US might have had the likes of Pele, George Best and Franz Beckenbauer, but it was Beckham’s arrival that was the clincher, according to Paulson.
He said: “I can’t speak loudly enough about what he did for this league as a player (his statue, far left. Right, Atlanta coach Frank de Boer).
‘‘I believe the absolute seminal moment in MLS was when he arrived at LA Galaxy.”
Miami are the 25th team in America’s MLS. They are up and running, but coronavirus means they are still waiting to play their first home game, after two outings.
Penn added: “Miami is the
‘The next World Cup here will blow roof off’