Anybody have ideas how to get more people to soccer games?

<p>Watching sports is not fulfilling for me…</p>

<p>Playing sports, on the other hand, can be fun.</p>

<p>I have a hard time watching football because of all the start and stop, too. It bores me, which is why I prefer soccer and hockey. But I do enjoy football. The only sport I really don’t like is basketball. Though at this point I am sort of neutral on baseball.</p>

<p>I liked the idea of free food and a tailgate party. That’s something that I would enjoy, and it’s also a way to get soccer fans to meet each other and perhaps get them to come to future games together. Starting a club for soccer enthusiasts also sounds fun. Are there any major sports rivalries at your school that you could use to get people excited about a game? I feel like one could probably get at least a small group of spectators to a checkers tournament if it meant getting to watch a um vs osu match up, and soccer is probably almost universally considered a better spectator sport than checkers. :P</p>

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<p>No, they don’t sprint because there’s no purpose. Soccer is much more about positioning and there’s a lot more open space. Players sprint when the action is near them (unless sprinting would be a terrible tactical maneuver, as it sometimes is even in football) but maintain positioning when it’s away from them.</p>

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<p>What types of games did you watch? Different levels of play and athleticism greatly affect the tactics. A kids soccer match is different from a college match, which is different from a professional game and so on.</p>

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<p>world cup games</p>

<p>I have the same problem at my college - I’m actually on the team so I tell a lot of my friends about my games, and occasionally they come to support me, which is nice. I agree that free food, maybe t-shirts are ways to attract fans. Have you thought about making ridiculous signs? Maybe that sounds weird but our men’s soccer team always goes on facebook and picks funny photos of themselves, and then makes signs advertising for people to come watch the players. It’s actually pretty effective - the last game (which was their alumni game) actually had a lot of fans.</p>

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<p>That’s because they get a break every 30 seconds, so they’re able to do so. Soccer players usually have to go for 90 minutes, but they’re still able to respond explosively when necessary. Perhaps some people don’t like that, but I personally think it makes the game more exciting. I disagree about there being less action - whenever someone makes a move, beats a defender, schools someone, etc. is always really exciting for me. The low scoring makes it more exciting when there is a goal.</p>

<p>There’s a reason that the majority of the world loves soccer. I wish it was more popular in the U.S., because when the atmosphere at soccer games in other countries is never something I’ve seen replicated here.</p>

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<p>Well, yeah, I haven’t been arguing in this thread that football is an endurance sport. What I have been arguing in this thread is that I think football is more exciting because it isn’t an endurance sport.</p>

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<p>Not the highest level of competition, but the one that people care most about.</p>

<p>IOW: Teamwork is slightly down because the players aren’t together very often, and the games tend to be very defensive because they’re scared to make a fatal mistake. Smaller countries that have no chance of winning it all often play incredibly defensively, hoping to get at least an unexpected draw.</p>

<p>I think a lot of the enjoyment you get from any game really depends on the mindset. If you watch soccer always thinking that it’s boring because nobody’s going to score in the next 30 seconds, 99% of the time you’ll be right and you will be bored. If you watch thinking that there will soon be a chance to score, you’ll also usually be right, and it’s easier to keep up the excitement. Similarly with football, the odds of a TD on any particular play are probably <5%, and in most games, the majority of possessions don’t end in anyone scoring. The key is finding the buildup interesting.</p>