Soccer has gained a foothold in the United States and appears poised to host the World Cup this summer, something that wasn’t as obvious in 1994.
The last time the World Cup was held in the United States, there was no professional league in the country, and the national team was made up of former college players, seasoned players, and semi-pros.
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“Up until 1994, we were at risk on the ticket side,” former U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati told Al Jazeera in a recent interview. “A big concern for the U.S. organizing committee was whether we would be able to sell all the tickets.”
In the end, the 1994 tournament was a success. A record 3.5 million people (68,991 per game) attended the games. The United States advanced from the group stage for the first time since 1930, but lost 1-0 to eventual champion Brazil in the round of 16. And the seeds of the professional league, Major League Soccer, were sown.
Since then, football has moved from the fringes of the United States to the mainstream.
MLS is thriving, with the national team ranked a reliable 16th in the world by FIFA, and demand for tickets far outstrips supply when the World Cup returns this summer.
“If you told us in 1994 that MLS would be a 30-team league, with (22) soccer-specific stadiums, and an average attendance of 20,000 people, that would not have been our dream,” Gulati said.
“The situation is completely different. The most visible thing is the development of the professional league, MLS and the Women’s League (NWSL). We didn’t have a first division, and now we also (have) the second and third divisions of the USL. The number of teams has increased dramatically.”
Currently, the United States Soccer Federation, commonly referred to as US Soccer, has sanctioned 127 professional teams, 102 men’s teams and 25 women’s teams.
“Eighteen of the top 50 (valued) teams in the world are in MLS,” Gulati said. “This is an amazing statistic. The Columbus women’s team just sold for $205 million. Commercial interest in soccer and the soccer league is at an all-time high.”
We praise Joan Havelanger’s achievements in looking to the future. During his reign as FIFA president, Havelanger usually got what he wanted, hoping for the 1994 World Cup in America along with the professional leagues.
However, this is easier said than done. Organized football has been played in the United States since the late 19th century, with the American Cup inaugurated in 1884. However, several professional leagues folded in the following decades, and after the dissolution of the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1984, the game seemed to have little future. Enter Havelange and FIFA.
“FIFA recognized a long time ago that for this sport to grow internationally it needed to be successful in the United States,” Farouk Quraishi, a Tampa, Florida, administrator who played in the NASL, told Al Jazeera.
“For me, it was completely a matter of time. This is a huge, wealthy market. If you look at who’s buying clubs in MLS now, it’s who’s the owners in the NFL.”
In retrospect, it’s remarkable that the United States actually played in and hosted the World Cup without a national professional league.
For many years, the foundation of soccer in this country has been built on the participation of amateurs and youth. By the early 1990s, the numbers were high, with an estimated 18 million people in the United States playing the sport at some level. But this pyramid lacks a top tier, creating a dead end for aspiring players, with little media coverage and scattered fan interest.
The 1994 World Cup came and went, and MLS finally started in 1996.
Havelanger duly arrived to commemorate the first game, sitting in the rickety stands of Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California.
The San Jose Clash defeated DC United 1-0 with a goal from Eric Wynalda in the 88th minute. The match was avoided at the last minute from going into a shootout. In a shootout, a draw is determined by a one-on-one match with the goalkeeper from a distance of 32 meters (35 yards). This novel method of deciding matches ended in 2000.
Dedicated football stadiums began to proliferate in 1999. Lamar Hunt’s Columbus Crew Stadium became the nation’s first major venue dedicated to soccer since Marks Stadium in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1922. Columbus is currently at its second stadium, Scotts Miracle Gro Field, with a total of 22 MLS teams competing at their respective venues.
Football has finally become part of the American sports scene.
“Is it like the NFL, which is watched by an average of more than 18 million people, or is it America’s pastime that is baseball? No,” Gulati said.
“It’s not at that viewership level, but the game is covered all over the world. Look at the people wearing the jerseys around the city. Lionel Messi is playing in Miami. It’s part of the mainstream.”
“Soccer is not yet king in America.”
The picture is not without its flaws. Winalda, who scored 34 goals in 106 games for the U.S. national team, believes the current system is a recipe for mediocrity, with millions of young players on the roster but with few American players playing prominent roles in MLS teams, limiting their ambitions.
Most players are offered the league’s minimum annual salary ($80,622), according to the MLS Players Association, and there were only two American players among the top 40 highest-paid players last year: Austin FC forward Brandon Vazquez (24th place with $3.55 million) and Nashville SC defender Walker Zimmerman (27th place with $3.45 million), according to the MLS Players Association.
“If you look at the growth[of MLS]you can say that soccer looks professional, it looks big, it looks like Major League. And now a lot of people are looking at the sport differently because it’s a legitimate sport,” Winalda, who is now a coach and commentator, told Al Jazeera.
“(But) facilities don’t create ability. To develop players, we need to put more emphasis on the competitive environment. We tell them that winning isn’t important, and then wonder why they can’t win. We’ve lost that sense of competition.”
He supports introducing promotion/demotion as a solution.
“If you go to a team that will never get relegated because they have enough money, you’ll never learn how to fight relegation or how to beat an angry eleven for a living,” Winalda said.
And while the MLS franchise model has generated wealth, with Forbes valuing the team at $1.25 billion, the same as Los Angeles FC (thanks to ownership of 22,000-seat BMO Stadium), the quality of play hasn’t necessarily matched.
MLS teams have tended to struggle in CONCACAF competition, but in 2022 the Seattle Sounders ended a 22-year drought for MLS teams by winning the federation’s elite competition. The previous championships were DC United in 1998 and LA Galaxy in 2000.
“We may or may not agree on and off the field, but (MLS) has been successful,” FOX Sports commentator Alexi Lalas, who played center defender for the U.S. national team in 1994, told Al Jazeera. “I don’t think you can argue with that.”
Thanks to WC and MLS in 1994, U.S. football was “a completely different world, where you were finally not only respected, but recognized for what you did,” Lalas said. “As you know, soccer isn’t king yet in America, but let’s be honest, it’s part of the palate and definitely part of the landscape as far as this generation is concerned.”
Lalas predicts the U.S. will use the hosts’ “magic” to advance to the quarterfinals, and Gulati expects the sport to continue to grow in the U.S. after the World Cup.
“That’s the legacy of the tournament and why we’re bidding,” Gulati said.
