Materialism Of Soccer

Americans are obsessed with accumulating excessive amounts of items. As an immigrant from Pakistan in the United States, Shanzeh Khurram quickly recognized the impression that the “American Dream” has become “more and more materialistic” (Khurram). One example where this has occurred is the introduction of soccer in the United States. Prior to the late 20th Century, there was a common theme that soccer had no place in American society. The beautiful game, as soccer is sometimes referred to, slowly infiltrated the United States culture throughout the century, but the sport failed to gain serious traction on American soil until the late twentieth century. While soccer is practiced like a religion elsewhere, some argue that the United States used …show more content…
In the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, the U.S. defeated China five to four on penalty kicks at the Rose Bowl in California (“FIFA Women's World Cup - USA 1999”). One week later, a news article named “Soccer is Football of the World” in the Atlanta Daily World reported forty million Americans observed the U.S. Women’s Team make history on television for the first time as they won another world cup (Lamar). This statistic surprised the nation, but not the author. Hal Lamar elaborated in a sincere tone that he’s “not surprised over how Americans are going ape over the fact of the popularity of soccer,” (Lamar). He creates the analogy that soccer has sat “back seat” to american football, baseball and basketball prior to this tournament. Although the United States was never a hotspot for soccer culture, Lamar believes that this World Cup was a major milestone for the United States by focusing on the world’s greatest sport. Lamar’s observation on how Americans quickly embraced soccer when realizing its popularity displays the materialistic culture that Americans possess. He described this as the “bandwagon effect” (Lamar). Americans realized the popularity of soccer internationally and became interested so they could view soccer one of their own …show more content…
In the same article by Martinez, J. Marcelo Gangotena expressed his opinion on soccer television broadcasting in a disappointed manner. He explains by stating, “Soccer is becoming a business” (Martinez). He then describes the situation that sports networks currently have. While the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League are broadcasted by NBC and Fox, respectively, while international soccer and MLS is distributed among ESPN and other local networks(Martinez). As expressed by Gangotena, there is a desire by many American sports networks to broadcast as many soccer leagues as possible. This ambition and the disappointed statement by Gangotena displays the materialistic motif by the television companies when covering