It’s the main sport in every other continent
By Mo Hussain, Sports Reporter
One study found the most common score in a soccer game is 1 to 0 compared to NBA teams averaging about 40 field goals a game.
A couple of weeks ago we covered why soccer is the most popular sport in the world. While many people around the world consider it the number one sport, that doesn’t seem to necessarily be the case for North Americans and myself.
One of the main reasons I personally don’t resonate with soccer as much as other sports is the fact that that matchups can possibly end in draws. That means that there is a possibility of the game ending without any scoring on either team. How can someone possibly invest over 90 minutes of their time into watching a sport that runs the risk of not having a decisive ending? Imagine being in a marquee European city, paying tons of money for tickets to watch their professional soccer team, only to see both teams draw. To the people that don’t mind it, I salute you. But to people that are used to sports that have decisive endings, this can be a somewhat problematic.
An obvious counter to this is that it’s obviously not always the case that matchups can end in a draw. Tournaments like the FIFA World Cup and in the UEFA Champions league don’t end in draws, and I quite enjoy watching those when I get the chance. However, that is not the case for most major leagues in the regular season.
Another argument one could make is that that due to the game being played on such a large field, players can get tired, and it could take a long time to finish a game, which leads me to my next point.
Since soccer is played on such a large field, this could also contribute to why there is not enough scoring relative to other sports. If we compare soccer to a sport like basketball for instance (my favourite sport for full disclosure), one study found the most common score in a soccer game is 1 to 0 compared to NBA teams averaging about 40 field goals a game.
This, in addition to the fact that the sport isn’t as physical as some popular sports like hockey and American football (which is probably a good thing for the player’s well being), puts it at somewhat of a disadvantage when it comes to entertainment value.
