Real Sports on HBO

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Unless soccer in the US can compete monetarily with pro Baseball, Football, Basketball and collegiate lacrosse it will always be the red headed stepchild for male athletes.

Lax bro really? Lmao... thank you for that, needed a good laugh. Lax is for special boys who suck at soccer and or baseball.

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Lax bro really? Lmao... thank you for that, needed a good laugh. Lax is for special boys who suck at soccer and or baseball.

Of course LAX isn't that popular overall, but in certain areas it is like NE. Soccer studs aren't likely to be drawn to it but many others are. Volume matters when you need to fill 20+ roster spots. Our top HS program has several LAX studs on it. Not the greatest ball control (all played travel mostly through middle school) but they're super fast and tough. Town programs have lost plenty of players to LAX. Since HS LAX overlaps with spring club soccer one of my HS aged kids has 3 players not returning this spring because of HS LAX. Hopefully as football loses its appeal parents start to push their kids into soccer instead. Baseball is declining in popularity also (snooze fest)

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Blame parents. they want to WIN as soon as possible.

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I think the route to the necessary “army of volunteers” is through opportunities for adults to play the game. I want to see a “five a side revolution” with futsal-type courts in every neighborhood. I’d love to see clubs promote playing by able bodied parents, and more involvement of players after they age out at the u17-18 ages. Most of the quality players I see come from immigrant cultures where the dads still play. One of my formative images was a few years back when I came early to my kid’s club’s tryout. I saw a 40 yo guy with his 10 yo son on the side of the field playing a kind of keepaway game with each other—the dad just keeping his body between the kid and the ball, moving slowly within a small space. As soon as the Club came on the field this guy and his kid got in their sh!tbox car and drove away...probably off to the dad’s pickup game.

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I think the route to the necessary “army of volunteers” is through opportunities for adults to play the game. I want to see a “five a side revolution” with futsal-type courts in every neighborhood. I’d love to see clubs promote playing by able bodied parents, and more involvement of players after they age out at the u17-18 ages. Most of the quality players I see come from immigrant cultures where the dads still play. One of my formative images was a few years back when I came early to my kid’s club’s tryout. I saw a 40 yo guy with his 10 yo son on the side of the field playing a kind of keepaway game with each other—the dad just keeping his body between the kid and the ball, moving slowly within a small space. As soon as the Club came on the field this guy and his kid got in their sh!tbox car and drove away...probably off to the dad’s pickup game.

Zzzzzzzzzz.....

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Of course LAX isn't that popular overall, but in certain areas it is like NE. Soccer studs aren't likely to be drawn to it but many others are. Volume matters when you need to fill 20+ roster spots. Our top HS program has several LAX studs on it. Not the greatest ball control (all played travel mostly through middle school) but they're super fast and tough. Town programs have lost plenty of players to LAX. Since HS LAX overlaps with spring club soccer one of my HS aged kids has 3 players not returning this spring because of HS LAX. Hopefully as football loses its appeal parents start to push their kids into soccer instead. Baseball is declining in popularity also (snooze fest)

Zzzzzzzz

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Unless soccer in the US can compete monetarily with pro Baseball, Football, Basketball and collegiate lacrosse it will always be the red headed stepchild for male athletes.

Yes. Money drives its success. That said, there is more soccer on TV today than two years ago and the starting MLS salaries have risen 100-150% from 10 years ago. However, the average and median don't come close to those of the major US sports. In fact, at least 50% of MLS players probably need another job to make ends meet.

2015 data
Average Median Min Salary Max Salary
NFL $1,900,000 $770,000 $420,000 $22,000,000
MLB $3,818,923 $987,500† $507,500 $30,714,286
NHL $2,696,069 $2,000,000 $550,000 $14,000,000
NBA $4,153,249 $2,245,886 $507,336 $20,644,400
MLS $226,454 $91,827 $36,500 $7,167,500

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Not exactly rocket science or new. Comfort with the ball at younger ages has been preached and practiced in stronger world academy systems for years . USS has taken a few baby steps in that direction but nothing serious yet.

This is Valeo’s secret to success. They are starting with kids younger than ever, the results are amazing.

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Different cultures, different results.

It's not complicated. Parents and coaches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gETP14z515Q

[Unregistered]

Yes. Money drives its success. That said, there is more soccer on TV today than two years ago and the starting MLS salaries have risen 100-150% from 10 years ago. However, the average and median don't come close to those of the major US sports. In fact, at least 50% of MLS players probably need another job to make ends meet.

2015 data
Average Median Min Salary Max Salary
NFL $1,900,000 $770,000 $420,000 $22,000,000
MLB $3,818,923 $987,500† $507,500 $30,714,286
NHL $2,696,069 $2,000,000 $550,000 $14,000,000
NBA $4,153,249 $2,245,886 $507,336 $20,644,400
MLS $226,454 $91,827 $36,500 $7,167,500

Think bigger picture. Without proper training from the earliest years the sport won't improve, players won't become well known super stars attracting more kids to the sport, advertisers won't spend more, fans base won't grow, salaries won't increase.