After a month of promotion, non-stop worldwide attention, and me watching a few World Cup games, I realized a few things today as France and Italy prepare to square off in the finals:
- I can't remember a single sideline ad from the games, other than the ones I recently blogged about, despite those advertisers shelling out millions of dollars.
- I'm not any more interested in soccer than I was before the World Cup started. Not any less interested, for what it's worth. Certainly not even in the same ballpark as the die-hard fans in the picture above.
- The only thing that will make the World Cup even mildly popular here in the U.S., and will help "sell" it to the U.S. audience, is a kick-butt, better-than-the-rest-of-the-world U.S. soccer team. Maybe in another four years. But then again, the U.S. women's World Cup team won it a few years ago, and I didn't see a big spike in World Cup excitement following their great win...even after whats-her-name ripped off her jersey in celebration.
- We in the U.S. may be too set in our ways when it comes to the time we can devote to watching sports. The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL takes up a lot of our time and attention. Throw in the Olympics, and its tough for the World Cup to sell their message effectively.
Comment Preview