Only realized the audio on this one was so soft too late. Really sorry about that- won't be making that mistake again!

Probably because u've gotta pay thousands of dollars just to play at any academy unlike in europe or anywhere else in the world where football is relatively a low cost sport

The reason football failed here in the USA is due to the fact that they made it a sport for the wealthy and they didn’t follow the European model for how the league should be structured. I feel the USA is a sleeping giant in the sport due to the sheer numbers and diversity in this country.

I’m in the states and football is definitely growing. I’d argue that especially in the big cities like NYC and LA, it’s right up there with Baseball and Hockey in terms of popularity. Soon it will overtake those sports and it’ll be alongside the NFL and NBA. Messi and Ronaldo are already household names here.

It's quite odd how USA even hosted a World Cup in 94, and has a women team that's dominating the female football, and all the MLS signings in between, it hasn't "really" taken off to be even close to the typical American sports. I think football will remain a niche sports followed by Americans. Brilliant video, as always ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽

Development of youth and attempting to get the youth to play was the problem as that was bad as the likes of Beckenbaur and Pele were gonna retire after scoring a combined 500 goals in unofficial friendlies as the formula of getting foreign players but not get more native Americans in terms of quality was one huge factor……..I’m glad you covered this man 👍

One of the main differences I see between the US and the rest of the world in football is the tax bracket. Football in the US is played primarily by those who have money middle class and upper middle class. A lot of pay-players, those who can essentially have the funds to reach the top. While in most other countries, football is lifestyle not a business, played primarily by the poor. A culture, a casual Sunday league game will have the same passion as a professional game. The US does have this, but with basketball primarily.

Ultimately it comes down to two issues that are related to each other - the first is that football is a street game at its core, it's a working class inner city game, whereas in the US it's more of a middle class suburbia game. The second is the college system. It just doesn't work for football. Expanding on the first point, football is a game that can be played by 22 players on a pitch. It can be played by 2 friends in a local park. It can be played by 1 person kicking a ball against a wall. It's a game that can be played anywhere and in places where it's been successful it has been kids playing in the streets or in some random patch of grass. All you need is a ball to kick and somewhere to kick it. The closest American comparison to football is probably basketball, an inner city sport that can be played in various forms depending on the resources at hand. Regarding the college system, in successful football nations, it's the clubs that develop the players. Players are identified from a young age playing in school or for their local team and are gradually brought into the youth academies of professional clubs. If the US wants a successful, competitive club game and be successful internationally then clubs need to develop their own players and completely abandon the NCAA system. In big European clubs, if you reach 21 or 22 and aren't in contention for a place in the first team then you're probably going to get moved on. Players are developed by clubs all throughout their teenage years, with some even making debuts as young as 16. Going through the college path is essentially a waste of 4 years of your career and if your teenage years have been limited to playing for your highschool and thus haven't had the dedicated development plan that clubs provide, you're going to end up with players who aren't quite as good as they could be and worse, a lot of players who could be great but end up falling through the cracks because of the nature of the college system. I also think the US needs to introduce relegation and have multiple tiers when it comes to leagues. The closed system of American sports really isn't healthy, not just for football but for the likes of basketball too. Now you may read this and say "hold on a minute, the women's national team has been very successful and that operates through the same standard NCAA path as other sports in the US" and that's right. The women's team has been successful. But do you want to know why? It's because football clubs around the world haven't given it anywhere near the kind of investment or attention it has for the men's game. If clubs and countries around the world invest in the women's game and start developing players at academy level the way they do the men's game, then the US women's team will be left far behind.

I mean almost every kid in america (me including) grew up playing soccer in rec leagues. Professionally it’s not as big as it is in other countries but it’s definitely the most popular sport to play casually next to Basketball.

The sport is very big in the USA in terms of actually playing it, especially for youth. It's the second most played sport by youth next to basketball. So Americans do enjoy playing soccer/football. The thing that needs to be improved is their viewership towards the game as fans

When the Chicago Sting won the championship in 1981, the whole city went wild. The state of Illinois even issued a special car license plate in Chicago Sting colors to commemorate the win. When they won again in 1984 - the last year of the league - it was barely a blip. It was a shock to see how quickly professional soccer rose, and then how quickly it disappeared.

What always baffled me about football in Amercia is that, although it never interested Americans as much as their other sports, and never will, whenever I see any highlights from the MLS, I see huge stadiums packed with people. Really hard to explain.

Your channel is so underrated it's unbelievable 👏👏

I feel like it wasn't as big here in the states with past generations because older people didn't have easy access to it growing up since they didn't have the internet. It's definitely growing in popularity amongst younger people now that we can watch it through internet streaming & KZfaq highlights. I feel like in 20 years, footy will be significantly more popular here in the states.

Video suggestion: Maybe a video on ruud van Nistelrooy or Thierry Henry next?

Brilliant analysis and wickedly told. Thank you very much.

I was a season ticket holder from 78 until the end. Firstly, in regards to the rules. The offside rule change was dumb it had the effect of taking the defender out of the play when the ball was in the opponents end. Although, I refused to stay in the stadium to watch any 'shootout'; the NASL method of placing the ball 35 yards out and having a 5 second shot clock, allowing both shooter and goalie to move was and still is superior to penalties. Also not mentioned, but the FA or maybe it was the football league banning loan players from coming to the NASL to play for the summer really hurt the quality of the play. Much name recognition was gone as well. Another issue was the uneven access to good soccer pitches. Some team were playing on very narrow and short pitches which I thought hurt the flow of the game on the field. All the action was so compressed, that it became something of a kick and run league. Still when it was gone I very much missed it.

I’m a simple man: Football Iconic uploads, I click.

I cant believe a channel of this quality doesnt even have 100k keep going bro you will blow up soon 🤞

Hi I found out your channel recently and I'm enjoying very much your videos. Greetings from Brazil. Suggestion video: about the revolution made by the Hungary old school with players like Puskás and Kocsis and coach Bela Guttmann and why they aren't so strong as used to be

Great video boss. Keep it up. Much love and respect

Interestingly the offside law the NASL introduced was very similar to the alternative possible offside law change considered in the early 20's (the other being the one adopted and still in use today), I wonder if they were aware of this? Also the true golden age of 'soccer' in America came came in the 1920's when they had one of the few professional leagues outside Britain which would be well worth a video.

Hey man. Love your videos. Keep it up!!

Brilliant Review. I was around for the "second wave" back in the 70s. There was popularity before the 70s. and I saw the collapse as described here...

One interesting reason the sport wasn’t as successful was its reputation as a “yuppie” sport in some areas, only attracting middle and upper class kids being driven to games by suburban soccer moms. Not saying this was the case but it was certainly an common opinion. Mind you this is back in the 80s/90s and has changed significantly today.

Bro the best Football KZfaqr♥️ U carrying my feed

Congratulations on your upcoming 100,000 subscribers!

Fantastic video keep it up your doing amazing job

Another great video from the goat

I wouldn't say it's failed exactly. It took a while to get going but the standard of the MLS has improved a lot over the past ten years and national interest seems to be growing impressively given the competition it's faced from other sports

Another stellar video that subverts the general footballing fans idea on a topic. Why you're the GOAT 🐐 keep It up mate

Ekse bru, your content is gold.

As an American who favorite sport is Soccer...yes I know football before someone makes the generic "its called football" comment. Blame the English for why Americans call it Soccer. Anyways whenever I have this conversation with ppl, the thing I point out is that soccer has an uphill battle. Its competing with a religion aka American Football, its also competing with the NBA, and America's past time Baseball...as well there is Hockey who is also fighting that uphill battle that Soccer is fighting...Oh and the newer kid on the block in terms of age, MMA(UFC). Americans like fast action, and a lot of action. The running joke that even sport media outlets make about Soccer is, 2 top teams will play and it'll end in a draw. The first thought some would have is to name all the high scoring games. That doesn't matter, the comment made by sports media is a joke about there not being enough scoring. Americans love seeing a lot of scoring. The other thing about soccer compared to the big sports of the US is, relate ability. Its less about stars first language and more about Most of the NFL is players who grew up in inner city US towns. Making ppl who also grew up in those towns likely to watch and wanna grow up to be like them. Its very easy to be a low income family with kids playing basketball and football. Its not easy being a low income family supporting a kid in soccer. Its a very expensive sport in the US at the youth level. Soccer in the US fails for the same reason the NHL struggles. If there is a LA Kings vs Vegas Knights game on the same day an NFL game is one...everyone is watching the NFL. Team bad NFL teams will get more viewers than 2 good MLS teams playing each other. But I will also say things seem to be on the up for Soccer in the US. The big teams at least tend to sell out their stadiums, Atlanta seems to always be backed. When the top EU teams play here in the preseason, there games are packed. Barcelona has a habit of now playing in Michigan bc there is 116k seats filled up. Downside is most of the interest in Soccer for us Americans...is in EU teams. You'll sooner find a Spurs fan in the US than a Columbus Crews fan. Even myself, I'm a Barca and United fan. I don't cheer for any MLS team...mostly bc my state keeps failing to get a team, even though folks keep trying.

Ive literally just had a discussion about this topic with someone and now i see this video.

I really liked your notes at the end of the rule changes influenced by the NASL/American football (soccer). A detailed vid of this could be interesting!!??

Great video thank you

In my opinion, soccer in the U.S will never be much bigger than it is now. I feel like fandom in soccer is rooted in culture/peoples pride for their country. Americans have football and baseball engrained as the national sports. I dont see that changing. If we think about the people that live in the "big markets" NY, CA etc... There's lot of different nationalities. These individuals will usually be fans of their own national team instead of the U.S team. Add the fact that most immigrant/foreigners in the U.S that know about soccer have likely been exposed to european leagues where the level of play is higher. There's no incentive to watch MLS at that point. For example Im in my late 30s. Born in Colombia but basically raised in NY since 2. Even though I never lived there, I will always support the Colombian national team pver the U.S team and although Ive tried, I can't bring myself to get into MLS since I watch EPL, Serie A, La liga - There's a huge disparity in the level of play. Great video btw 👍🏾

I think the main reason kids in the U.S doesn’t like football it’s because it’s too exclusive for example only kids who’s parents have money can afford it if you are poor you won’t be able to afford it and the hungriest kids are typically the poor ones because that’s the only thing they rely on to get out of poverty just look at the most popular sports in the U.S football ,basketball and baseball most of them comes from the lower class like rich kids doesn’t have the pressure to be great just something to do after school

Great content really

Great vid!

American soccer system revolves around money, youth clubs and even city youth clubs ask for sooo much money that many families can proved and this don’t put their kids in programs that might elevate their kids to next level. I think the system especially for the youth which is the future of the sport in America needs to be changed

If Pulisic scored in the Champions League Final "The LeBron James of Soccer scores for Chelsea Soccer Franchise to lead them to European Championship Success"

Growing up in the inner city in the projects of St. Louis I never wanted to play soccer growing up. I was never around it. Everyone I was around was playing basketball. But as I got older I started watching premier league soccer and playing fifa and now I’m addicted to the game. It’s tied with basketball and American football as my favorite sports I been a Liverpool supporter for about 8 years now

Recovery is going to be a long one. MLS is a disaster too. It's focused more on fairness than competitive drive, to the point that there isn't even any relegation/promotion in the league (expansion is bullshit because as we've seen with Liga I in Romania and the Superleague in Turkey, you can expand a league while maintaining promotion/relegation standards). There are other things: - Salary cap for entire team, which limits how much salary can be paid so that it's "fair" to other teams in the league. - Expansion drafts that have teams lose players of theirs to hand out to the smaller ones because "fairness." - Superdraft system, which is OK in principle but also minimizes investments that clubs are willing to make for their own youth setups, making the sport less organic and more dependent on the college scam. - Together with no investment in youth teams, MLS clubs are entirely disincentivized to give young players much of a chance to capture their form during their crucial development years and instead have more incentive to take in players who are already in their prime, hence why a lot of young players with high potential leave USA to go play in a league in Europe/Mexico that isn't as dumb. - Commie ethics of most boards/clubs is still a thing (which is where the whole "commies and fairies" part comes from in your video) that carried over from the NASL. In Europe, if I want to sign a player, I make sure he is able to comply with very simple and straightforward registration requirements (some leagues have a cap on non-EU with certain exceptions, and sometimes minimum nr. of home grown players like Romania does), then negotiate whatever the hell I want to negotiate with him or his agent(within the confines of UEFA that makes sure players are not excessively exploited), and then bring him in. In America, there are 20392840239842309238098 rules to consider before a player joins, and the salary cap all but guarantees I can only have space for one player like Iannis Hagi (who isn't even amazing from a world standpoint, but still a pretty solid asset) on my team. There's senior contracts, off-budget contracts, GAM buyouts, guaranteed contracts, waiver limitations, salary cap, etc. etc. It's all a bunch of overengineered bureaucratic trash that is just there to ensure everyone gets a "fair share" in a sport that's supposed to be COMPETITIVE.

It’s bizarre but in America soccer is viewed as a rich kids game. Soccer moms driving their kids to practice in the newest suburban or minivan. Football, basketball, and to a lesser extent baseball are viewed by many as a way to make an escape from their current surroundings even tho they all require much more equipment then just a ball and a field. This discourages kids from really pursuing it. I thankfully come from a relatively affluent background but I viewed soccer as kind of a lame sport because of this. Went from being a good striker to a mediocre American footballer. Only recently rediscovered my love for the game. If the USA wants to improve for real it needs to improve its youth reputation first and foremost.

"Franz Beckenbauer, who was... Franz Beckenbauer". Yep, pretty much sums it up perfectly.

I happen to think the one rule change fifa should have actually gone with from the nasl was the 35 yard line (for offsides) … as it still stops goal hanging (which is the whole genesis off the introduction off the offside rule(s) ) but also at the same time completely opens up the game especially for attacking midfielder types… if you don’t agree plenty off players like Rodney marsh and Johan cryuff said it was a great rule!

I can't believe I missed a video by the big man

I think the NFL is so big in America because it’s a brutal sport. Like the gladiators in Roman times. Brutal strength and strategy wins the game. Plus the tribal dedication to our local teams are so rooted into our lives it won’t ever go away. I was born a Vikings fan and will die a Vikings fan. Even though they have disappointed us for so many years.

I'd say in the Bay Area I see most "pick-up games" are soccer followed by basketball. I rarely see pick-up football (🏈 ), and I never see baseball. Sadly, the pay-to-play system keeps the most talented kids I see out of the spotlight, which trickles into our professional game. I remember seeing that San Francisco got a team (I forget the name) in USA division 2. I went thinking I would see the "local boys" battle it out against the team from another city, only to see that it was filled with former Division 3 players from other countries. At that point I felt watching a "real game" online would be better. If I felt more of a connection to that team I wouldn't mind so much the lower level in futbol.

I love your videos. The music in the background is distracting.

Do you know what would be cool?? A video on Kanu Nwanko or Jay Jay Okocha? (Or Super Eagles in general)

One of the problems for soccer in the USA - rarely if ever is there a comeback in a game.

oooooooooooooooo this gonna be good

Great video, so, judging by this, all the MLS needs is Inter Miami to sign Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar?

No one love competition,.. we love respect, brotherhood, good vibes,..

I think was USA soccer needs is a homegrown super star. An American Messi or Ronaldo. That as well as a bigger emphasis on youth development. The star player will inspire kids to play soccer and and pursue that dream and the youth development programs will help them accomplish it

I wish my country truly cared it sucks not having anyone to watch games or just talk about the beautiful game. it may sound stupid but i get sad sometimes when i talk about something i love and everyone looks at me like I have three heads.. Its slowly growing but I doubt it will ever be super big.. such a shame i truly love this game and wish people saw the beauty of it.

In 1975 we didn't even have soccer stadiums. The soccer matches were played in american football 🏈 stadiums. But do to the diversity in the U.S soccer has become prevalent even surpassing hockey.

Shout out to my home town Portland OR where Pele won his first championship with the Cosmos!

4.7M in today's money is almost 25M dollars

Does anyone remember Messi's goal vs America 2016 , the free kick one?

Can u make a video about the state of US football now and the state of the MLS pl???

hey, can you please do a video of one of the greatest midfielders of all time, arguably (and is) the greatest midfielder of all time, Andres Inietsa??PP

a lot of people play soccer casually and note definitely growing in the states, but i blame youth development in the States. to go to any academy you can be paying up to 20k for lower ones and 50k for MLS DAs

Its not successful because there is no football culture in the USA. Eveywhere else people get into football through family tradition and local legends. They grow up with it so they are instilled with an inherent passion for the game. People in the USA just play it as an extracurricular activity and move on.

If I'm not mistaken USA actually participated (national team) in first world cup back in 1930 and was 3d in the world. Its bizarre to me that it didn't pick up after that. Some people say its too long and not a lot is happening most of the time but its similar to baseball in that regard so I see no problem.

it’s definitely growing, it’s just the nfl and nba have been established as the dominant for so long and it’s gonna take some time

It's really a surprise why football hasn't taken off in the states considering how good they are at shooting

Big names isn’t the solution to the mls problem. The league is more successful now simply because every team is better overall. Nobody wants to watch some old past their prime players beating up on not as high quality players.

Another factor here is that other sports leagues matured first. The NFL has been around for a hundred years, MLB 150, and the NBA 75. Those leagues have had stability for a long time, soccer leagues here have often fallen flat on their face or barely made it 20 years. MLS lasting as long as it has though is a miraclem

This definitely beats reading the Wiki page on the NASL. Hands down!

Before people start saying “it’s called football” please realize that soccer is a British word that was used by the British and adopted by Americans, but later on Britain started calling it football. So relax

A huge part of European football is the culture. It matters both in terms of interest and in making the game as great as it is. And unfortunately, that’s something that cannot be adopted overnight. It takes many decades to build. Although it is commercialized as hell, European football is still fundamentally ground-up. Clubs are just that, CLUBS. Organizations that represent entire communities. They are not merely ”teams”, as in American sports. They were founded by groups of friends or workers. They have youth academies, often with hundreds of teams. 100+ years of history. Deep symbolism. Tradition. Local foundations. They represent specific groups in society and can have specific socio-economic, political, or religious leanings. The spectators are not mere ”fans”, they are supporters. Following your team is not a matter of entertainment, it is a matter of local pride and identity. Ignorance of this difference is what makes hooliganism so incomprehensible to Americans. Don’t misunderstand me, I have no love for hooligans. But the reason people fight for football clubs in Europe is that the clubs and their perceived values are a core part of peoples’ social identity. When Celtic plays Rangers, it is Catholics vs. Protestants. When Barca plays Real Madrid, it’s Catalonia fighting for independence against the royal central power. When Lazio plays Livorno, it is literally fascists clashing with communists. European clubs are very often more than clubs. In the US, as in India or China, teams and even whole leagues feel like artificial market ploys. There’s no tradition. They have names like ”Earthquakes” and are ”franchises”; bought, sold, and transferred between soulless billionaires. Everything feels like gimmicky show business. There’s a reason you’ll never see American athletes kiss their badge: it wouldn’t mean anything. The badge of Inter Miami CF is basically a brand logo. It is drawn by some graphic designer in order to look ”cool” and sell shirts for a club founded and owned by a foreigner seeking to enlarge his wealth. It can never carry even a sliver of the meaning that the badge of a Manchester United, FC Barcelona, or frankly any club that’s been around for 100+ years. The manner in which the Americans tried to change fundamental rules of the game in order to seek more instant gratification for ”fans” with a lack of both understanding and attention spans perfectly illustrate why there can be no lasting tradition of the European kind in a sporting context that is entirely beholden to vapid capitalism. It’s a fundamental cultural divide that cannot be bridged. American sports just work differently. There is no larger coherent football pyramid. No promotion and relegation. No tradition of youth academies. No pitches in local neighborhoods. No clubs; just teams. This is not just an American issue. European football is thankfully standing on the shoulders of giants. There are generations of accumulated know-how regarding player development, community involvement, tactics, management, scouting, etc. Your average dad coaching a local boys team will have more knowledge of the game than 99% of Americans. It is very hard to catch up to something like that. Just ask China, for instance. There are 1.4 billion Chinese, with football being the most popular spectator sport. Insane amounts of money have been invested. Yet their national team will be crushed by the likes of Belgium (10 m), Denmark (5 m), and even Iceland (0.3 m). All that being said, the USMNT can still become a fantastic team in the future. And there’s a lot of growth potential for the sport in America. But no one should trick themselves into believing that the MLS can become the Premier League or Serie A. If the Americans can reach Eredivisie level, that would be a great achievement. And there’s nothing wrong with having your national team stars play in other leagues. It is basically the norm for any country that isn’t England, Germany, Spain, or Italy. Including fantastic teams such as France, Brazil, Croatia, etc.

High school soccer plays in the same season as High School Football. I grew up in the best Soccer town in the USA ( Harrison NJ, Look up our soccer history). My hometown was loaded with Scots, Irish, Polish and then Portuguese , Brazilians and South Americans. We all played soccer with our free time, but when the Fall sport season came, many of the best sportsmen played American Football. It was just expected to play football. Also you must remember that Soccer in America does not pay what Football, Baseball and Basketball pays.

Mainly you can't put ads in 45 minutes that's too much for them

You only need a ball and makeshift posts to play (where Baseball and American Football need all that expensive gear), and I've heard it's increasingly popular at schools etc., which means a growing talent pool. With a huge population and the resources to support it, I think the USMNT will keep improving and a big performance at a World Cup (maybe reaching a quarter/semi-final) is all it will take to make the nation fall in love with the sport.

I think it’s generally down to the fact that the Americans have a different culture to everyone else... they want to make things in their own way.. it’s grown massively in other countries and is yet to in America..

Sorry mate, I am still laughing... Nice job by the way!!!

It’s also really difficult to watch games sometimes if only all games were on one platform

Football didn't fail. They just hold the ball with their hands

The moment they called it "Soccer", there is no coming back from that.

Can you make a video on CDM's Busquets , veratti

Another big reason why it's not popular here is because it's not marketed at all. Like if I turn on my TV there's no contracts with any of the sports networks to talk about it except for NBC and you have to have a specific membership. So I got interested in football matches probably a couple months ago and I found ways on my own. However, I can't escape any other sport so that's part of it I think

It’s popularity will grow after the next World Cup. I think that it going to gain momentum. One thing I’d point out is that: the teams in MLS don’t get relegated or promoted, so the competition isn’t just there. There’s no self advancement for the teams or punishment for mediocre

Tbf it hasn't failed, it just hasn't reached the same level it has in the EU / South America. But the way they run their leagues doesn't help as there is no competetive aspect to it, there's no relegation / promotion and thus no real risks which really takes away from the experience

Shopee, Lazada Their ads are terrifying me, also some pop-up ghost

Nowadays half the prospects from argentina are coming to the mls too. Can't wait for the future

The core of football are the fans and the emotions. This doesn't work in a league where clubs are just money orientated franchises and where there's no proper punishment for mismanagement such as for example relegations.

USA - We'll make our own sport which we'll call FOOTBALL! Hoorah!

Can’t believe we were so close to see the rise of soccer ball

can you do a video for moussa dembele( the belgian one).

So funny how Drake can't pick a team in any sport lolol

As a brazilian, I can say my perception is that soccer in America was always presented as a product and business in the first place, something to be called attention to, whilst on the rest of the world, football leagues were born out of small teams founded on passion alone, first as an amateur sport. What americans have with american football, baseball and basketball, and what canadians have with hockey, soth americans and europeans have with soccer. Along with the changes made to the rules american leagues always brought to the fold, it gave us the impression that the MLS was always kind of sterile. A company sold in franchises to rich owners, teams without an organic century-old history, as it is in other countries. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally pro-business and revenue increase, but there's no passion in soccer in America. At least as of yet. I sincerely hope it changes.

Video number 7 of asking for a Raul video From Schalke 04 to Real Madrid

Hile Pele was the main Icon.. George Best, Franz Beckenbauer, Johann Cruyff, Carlos Alberto, Gerd Muller, Bobby Moore, Gordon Banks and Geoff Hurst had their impact, issue was money management.

NFL and NBA are just funner, also college football and basketball the crowds are just nuts. There are just more 'moments' in these sports. In baseball everything gets concentrated into a single pitch also, I think Americans are used to sports that have many big moments, and also sports in where they can take commercial breaks, whereas in soccer you have to keep your eyes at all times on the match. Hockey is this same way and doesn't do as well in America as it does in Canada.

I am Italian and American, and I think the biggest issue is the culture. The years I spent in Italy and Europe held football as a primary part in the household of everyone. Match day is a holiday, and you talk about it for the rest of the week. In America, friends and even family get angry when I tell them that I can not spend time with them at that moment unless they would like to watch the match with me. It simply doesn’t have the same prevalence that it does in the European household, and that is something that is grown over more than one hundred years, not something that can simply be put in place through spending and advertisements. I hope that football gains prevalence here, but Europe is the home of football, and I believe it will, and should, stay that way.

Thank you

You're absolutely correct that the NASL made some big mistakes which helped lead to its downfall. But what you didn't mention, or don't realise, is that the league also failed because the world - or more specifically the football world - was very different in the 1970s to what it is was in the 1990s, and even more so to what it is today. The US just wasn't ready for a normal football league. A lot of the gimmicks and things that look so silly to us now (and they really do look silly), made sense in the context of the time and place they were put into effect, to some degree. Nowadays it's much easier to get to know about a sport rooted in a different continent and culture. Back then, football was a pretty alien concept to most Americans. They couldn't watch The Premier League, La Liga and Serie A almost as easily as they can watch the NFL, NBA or NHL, like Americans can today. There were football fans, of course, but it basically nowhere compared to their home-grown sports. Football is inseparable from culture, and to the eyes of mainstream American culture, typical football/soccer looked kind of staid, boring, strange and weak. There was no understanding of real football, its traditions, its rhythms. These things take a lot of time to build up, and not just time but exposure. It's easy to say "They should've made their league more like ours and it would've been a success", but it's really not as simple as that. Fast forward to the 1990s and the US host the World Cup, and satellite/cable TV is bringing European club football much more easily into Americans' homes. Americans start to get exposed to football culture and a better understanding starts to develop. Fast forward to the 2000s and the internet starts to bring Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, etc., onto everyone's computer or phone who wants them - whether they live 5 miles from Old Trafford or thousands of miles away in NYC, LA or Wisconsin. It's this slow embedding of football culture into Americans' hearts and minds that enables the beautiful game - and the MLS - to be able to flourish. Added to all this, the MLS learned from the mistakes of the NASL. But it still used the power of the Superstars Player - just like its predecessor did - to give their league a shot in the arm (ie David Beckham).