THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Soccer, it's growing here too

Questions come from everywhere.

For instance …

I was trying to navigate a teeming mob of shoppers at Costco when I heard a voice say, “Excuse me, but are you Steve Cameron from The Press?”

It’s not THAT unusual to be recognized when your picture is in the local paper on a regular basis, but one was obviously a little different, because …

The voice belonged to a young man working behind the meat counter.

He didn’t seem to be furious at me for something he’d read, so I confessed my identity – and it turned out he actually did have a complaint, of sorts.

“Why don’t you write more about soccer?” he asked. “It’s getting to be really popular, but I don’t see much about it in the paper.”

Frankly, he has a point.

Major League Soccer is a huge item in the Northwest – with the Sounders drawing far more fans than any other club in the U.S. or Canada.

And besides that …

THERE’S ALSO a massive market in this country for European soccer — the rest of the world calls it “football” — and specifically for the Premier League in England.

A staggering influx of money poured into the Prem by billionaire owners and state-sponsored clubs like Manchester City (Abu Dhabi) and Newcastle (Saudi Arabia) have made the English game the best in the world by some distance.

Financially, it’s not even close — and as we know, money can buy talent.

Just take one club, the dastardly Manchester United. In 2018, just prior to the pandemic, Man U’s annual revenue was $800 million.

The Premier League’s global TV rights are expected to reach a haul of nearly $13 billion during the league’s current three-year cycle.

Monstrous additional amounts pour in beyond those broadcast deals, too, commercial connections throughout Asia, Africa and, naturally, all over Europe.

That probably isn’t a surprise – it’s called “The World’s Game,” after all.

But the United States has become a soccer nation, as well.

Really.

NBC is forking over serious cash for exclusive Premier League rights — it’s in the second season of a six-year deal worth around $2.6 billion.

COUNTLESS other broadcasters have rights to the Champions League, MLS, domestic leagues in Spain, Germany, Mexico, France, Italy, Holland and so on.

Famous clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus have their own flowing streams of cash.

Okay, serious junkies like me are willing to get up before dawn to watch my beloved Arsenal play games in north London.

I mean, I lived in Britain for nearly four years, so being seriously mental about my Gunners isn’t a surprise — and please note that we opened the 2022-23 season on

Friday with a thrilling 2-0 (pronounced two-nil) victory on the road against Crystal Palace.

Yes, as it says on one of my many pieces of Arsenal clothing: “Gooner ‘Til I Die.”

The thing is, though, I’m not exactly alone as a wild-eyed fan of some English club here in the States.

Listen to Richard Masters, CEO of world’s most popular league …

“NBC Sports’ Premier League Mornings programming is now a real institution among supporters in America, with fans getting up early to come together and cheer on their favorite club, week in, week out.

“It’s an exciting time for football (soccer) in the U.S., and we look forward to continuing to work with NBC Sports to bring our competition to even more fans.”

Meanwhile, it isn’t ALL about watching matches on distant shores.

For instance …

The United States will be hosting the 2026 men’s World Cup along with Canada and Mexico, and even casual sports fans probably know that the U.S. women are the current world champions.

IN FACT, if you want to see the American women play a “friendly” against England at London’s Wembley Stadium in October – if you want to watch the U.S. take on the newly crowned European champs in person — you’re out of luck.

The 90,000-seat home of English football is sold out.

Tickets are already being scalped for heaven knows how much, this to attend the equivalent of a scrimmage between two popular teams.

Soccer/football is gaining wildly in popularity on this side of the Atlantic, clearly — but unlike with most sports that glue us to some device, in this case the women’s competitions (all the way down to toddler level) are keeping up with their male counterparts.

At the top …

The U.S. women’s national team is full of household names — Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and so on.

Around that highest level, the men are fighting to catch up.

If the U.S. men were to reach quarterfinals of the World Cup in Qatar this winter, it would be a major accomplishment.

However, the American women would consider elimination at that level a disaster.

The key to it all, though, is that viewers here are now watching — at the partial expense of hockey, pro basketball and baseball.

Footy (to use a Brit term) has gone from niche entertainment, and exercise for your kids, to a marquee sport.

That gentleman who called me out at Costco was right.

We should be giving footy its due.

So, we will.

COYG!

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week. He also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published during the off season, and weekly beginning in October.

Onetime note: COYG means “Come on You Gunners!” But you know that, right?

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”