re: Men's Soccer, Women's Gymnastics, and Beach Volleyball

quote:

---

True, but the best model for soccer is kids going to youth academies from mls or European teams at a young age, not ncaa teams.

---

touche. unless the NCAA can bribe europe and MLS leagues to establish an age minimum for american nationals. :/

No I totally agree. Already have a great fan base for the women's team and the sport will only continue to grow

quote:

---

So I don't see ncaa soccer getting the best of the best like football or basketball, it would still be good to have though.

---

not to mention, it would still be a proving ground and kids from all over Europe, S. America and the world who didn't make it to their big league straight out of HS or Academy would want to play on that stage. They could get arguably more exposure playing on american prime time than playing for an avg Premier League or MLS team.

quote:

---

They could get arguably more exposure playing on american prime time than playing for an avg Premier League or MLS team.

---

The EPL has a $4.3bn/year tv contract (for comparison the NFL has a $3bn/year) LINK

"As the Guardian reports, even the league’s last-place team will receive around $152 million annually"

ETA: the EPL also only has 20 teams so the exposure is probably twice the average NFL team if $/eyeball ratio is accurate

quote:

---

In 50 years soccer will have replaced football for top men's sport.

---

maybe so. But that doesn't mean college soccer will be. I think it ends up being like baseball tbh. The best go straight pro and the rest get a college education.

That's okay and I'm 100% for the SEC adding soccer to take ownership of that market, but I think overall market growth translating directly to college soccer is unlikely

I know in the early 2000's A&M club soccer team had some very good talent, my brother played on the team when they won the National Championship in club soccer (1999?, Maybe 2000) and later coached the team for a few seasons after he had graduated.

For sure had players that could have played Div 2 and maybe even 1 if they had wanted to go to another college.

quote:

---

I think you meant to say: than being a sub for a D2 english league or MLS team

---

No, i know what i meant. And it's "championship," not "D2" next time you try and one up somebody who knows what they're talking about.

In the world, its the top sport. No doubt.

But in the U.S., I don't see that happening unless Football is outlawed as a dangerous sport and banned.

Soccer is only popular in the U.S. when the World Cup arrives, but for the other 3 years it takes a back seat to NFL, CFB, NBA, MLB, and the NHL. Sure, soccer has its niche markets such as Portland and Kansas City, but that's all they are; niche.

quote:

---

I seriously doubt more people are going to watch Stoke v Cardiff or Watford v. Bournemouth than a top college matchup

---

I'm not sure if you're meaning to solely here but globally, Watford v Bournemouth definitely crushes your average college football game. People don't watch college football outside the US.

The US market is 3.6% of the EPL viewership (Asia otoh is a full third) and average about 560k viewers each. Using the US numbers and extrapolating it comes to 15.6m per match worldwide. That's CFB playoff game type numbers done 38 times a year.

EPL exposure absolutely dwarfs college football globally

quote:

---

for the other 3 years it takes a back seat to NFL, CFB, NBA, MLB, and the NHL

---

Not really. The Premier League is shown on NBCsn, same as NHL. It gets better ratings despite being shown from 6am to 11am.

Soccer is very fragmented in the US with MLS, Liga MX, Premier League, La Liga, UCL, National teams, etc all generating decent ratings comparable to NHL and MLB.

But by it's very nature it is fragmented with so many leagues and they often cannibalize each other. If El Classico is on while ManU plays Chelsea, both audiences suffer.

Straight line ratings are therefore a bit deceiving and the soccer market is very difficult to gauge. Are the same people that watch MLS watching EPL? Or Liga MX? There's definitely some crossover but I don't think anyone knows exactly how much.