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Soccer's Influence On American Sports

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Soccer's Influence On American Sports
In a recent article on Forbes, Mark J. Burn explains how Major League Soccer has entered a new height in American sports. MLS revenue, attendance, social media, television ratings, and net worth of clubs have set a new threshold for the league. American sports are no longer four major leagues, but five. It is fantastic that every measure of growth in Major League Soccer is actually growing, but one thing is missing and it can’t be measured on a graph. A super star.

Americans love their sports heroes. They’re countless of examples on how players can change culture and impact daily life. Most importantly, American sports leagues need stars to be successful.

But, MLS lacks the Tom Brady, Lebron James, Bryce Harper, or Sidney Crosby. Young kids do not have that one player to look up to in Major League Soccer like fans have in Europe with Messi, Ronaldo, Pogba, and or whoever. Whatever the star does, kids and fans will copy. Young US soccer fans look at Europeans or South Americans for their Obell Beckham Jr. or Steph Curry.
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The Italian plays with skill and flair, scores beautiful goals, an MVP, but sadly no one outside the world of soccer knows who the hell he is. He is in the prime of his career, but even other star players in MLS (winners of the World Cup and Champions Leagues) like Kaka, Pirlo, Villa, Drogba, and Gerrard go unrecognized in daily life on American streets. These footballers were the icons in Europe that MLS craves for tomorrow. Unfortunately, they are finishing a legacy rather than starting one; making them rather useless in terms of growing a MLS superstar. The US national team is filled with players from Major League Soccer, some are bigger than others, but all the lack the proper

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