Why aren't Americans

Because of American Football?

Oh, which sports take hold in which countries is quite historically and culturally complicated. If you're genuinely interested in the topic, The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football by Ben Goldblatt is a good read.

To be blunt, I don't really understand why the rest of the world seems to care so much that soccer isn't the number one sport in the USA. Nobody rags on India for preferring cricket and kabbadi. Or Australia for preferring Aussie rules. Or Canada for preferring Ice Hockey and Lacrosse. Or Indonesia for preferring badminton.

Cultural differences are nice. We should just respect them. Leave the Americans in peace to enjoy their rubbish sports.

https://media.tenor.com/D0IFxCYfuj4AAAAM/yawn-guy.gif

A Brit who uses "dollars" and "soccer"?

The US has too many other sports that we pay attention to. The big 4 are considered Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Hockey. There are some that are Arguing that Soccer is starting to overtake Hockey, but it’s debatable. Either way though, there is massive gap before it comes close to the other sports anyway. And I there are challenges with gaining any real ground. For example the US in its big 4 has the best leagues in all of those sports. But the MLS is clearly below the best European leagues, and I don’t think Americans will accept a league that isn’t the best. I think premier League games on US television would be more popular, but you also can’t grow a sport of people
Can’t go to the games, so an MLS is needed.

It also doesn’t have the history and tradition as the other sports in the US. Baseball has been around since the 1800s, NHL 1917 NFL 1920, NBA 1940s. The fandom for these teams is generational in a lot of cases. MLS has only been around since 1996, which means anyone my age or older basically grew up without professional soccer.

Soccer is the US is one of the most popular as a youth sports, but it fails to capitalize on it. Kids play soccer up until about high school, and if they are a top athlete, they just move on to other sports. This is a big reason why Americans are good at soccer. The infrastructure to get to from youth to pro is weak, and the best athletes are playing other sports.

SOCCER IS DUMB.