Introduce American football.

Soccer, a sport called football in most countries, has actually been popular in the United States for a long time. Of course, this popularity is essentially different from the popularity of football, basketball and baseball. For boys and girls, it is the most popular leisure sport (such as Elf Mouse or Cat and Dog Fight). But for a long time, the popularity of professional football in the United States has been relatively low. In the first league of football, the attendance rate is difficult to get close to baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey. Many authors are thinking about the reasons why football, the world's first sport, is not popular in most other countries in the United States. These theories include: other sports have squeezed the football market; Football is "imported"; The achievements of the United States in football are not outstanding and do not conform to the style of American bosses; Too many draws do not conform to the American concept of winning or losing the game; The score is not high ... when it comes to the history of American professional football, we have to mention NASL of North American Football League. From the establishment of 1968 to the suspension of 1984, this short-lived league composed of money and famous foreign stars has taught American professional football an eternal lesson. Of course, its achievements should not be forgotten by American fans. After all, it set off the first big football culture craze in American history. After that, American professional football fell into a trough, until 1994, the World Cup held in the United States brought it new development opportunities. With the afterheat of the World Cup, MLS, the new highest level league of American football, officially kicked off on 1996. Although MLS is much younger than the Big Mac Sports League in China and the first-class football leagues in most other football developed countries, and only 13 teams participated in the 2007 season, MLS ranked ninth in the world in terms of the average attendance rate of that year. In the past five years, the attendance records of many stadiums, cities and States have been repeatedly refreshed. The attention of TV media to football has also reached its peak, and now many channels are paying attention to this sport. Until a few years ago, the popularity of football in the United States was regional. New Jersey, new york, St. Louisiana and Southern California are hotbeds for the prosperity and development of football, because a large number of immigrants have largely maintained their enthusiasm for football in their native land. But today, football fever has gradually spread all over the United States. This is because: 1 established a professional league worthy of respect; 2. Good achievements made by the national men's and women's teams; 3. Develop a youth football program. Nowadays, football is developing rapidly in the United States, and the football population among teenagers is more than the sum of basketball, baseball and rugby. In the World Cup in South Africa, nearly 654.38 million people in the United States bought tickets to South Africa to cheer for the United States team, surpassing England to become the world's number one. In 2009, the mls average audience reached 17665, and the average audience in the playoffs exceeded 20,000, which is increasing rapidly every year. MLS executives said that it will take 65,438+05 years for MLS to surpass baseball to become the league with the second largest number of fans in the United States. The match between Los Angeles Galaxy and Royal Salt Lake City in the 09MLS Finals set a new MLS viewing record. Nearly/kloc-0.0 million people in the United States watched the game, nearly/kloc-0.0 times more than last year, and more than 200 countries and regions around the world can watch the game.

Major League Soccer was founded on June 5438+0993+February1July. The establishment of a first-class football league is a commitment made by the United States to FIFA when it applied for the 1994 World Cup. MLS officially started at 1996. First of all, the early Major League (1996-2002) witnessed the dynasty era of DC United led by Bruce Arena. This champion team swept three trophies in the first four seasons after MLS was founded. After the first season, MLS experienced a decline in attendance. The quality of the league was questioned by fans, because the American national team, which is generally composed of MLS players, was eliminated in the World Cup group match of 1998, and finally ranked first in the bottom of the two teams. The league began to build a market around American stars, that is, experienced veterans and newcomers. Damakus Beasley and landon donovan both made their mark in the major leagues, while Brian McBride and Clint mathis continued to mature in the major leagues. At the beginning of the establishment of MLS, it has been plagued by the problem of fiscal revenue, which eventually led to the dismissal of Doug Logan, the first MLS executive. Don Garber, former head of NFL international affairs, took his place and used his leadership to support the future development of the league. The concept of "football-only" stadium indicates a trend, that is, MLS teams begin to emphasize financial health to ensure the survival of the league. 1999 Columbus Crew Stadium has become a model for all teams in the league to build stadiums in the future. Second, the recovery of the alliance (2002-2006) In the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, the American national team unexpectedly reached the quarter-finals, including beating Portugal and Mexico. Encouraged by this historic achievement, the MLS ball market has a chance to recover. Four months after the World Cup, the MLS Finals set a new record in the history of MLS Finals. At Gillette Stadium, the attendance rate is 100%. Before the 2006 World Cup, MLS experienced a historic transformation. American stars have landed in Europe, including tim howard, Damacus Beasley and landon donovan. In 2005, MLS finally established the reserve team system. Each team has its own reserve team, and MLS also has a reserve league. The benefits of this long-standing system in other countries' football leagues are obvious: it can provide enough competition exercise for players who fail to enter the first team and help them develop and maintain their football level. Third, steady development (2006-2008) After 2006, the MLS level has been continuously improved and more international. Designated player rule, referred to as DP for short, is also humorously called Beckham rule, which is helpful for MLS to sign international stars. This is equivalent to giving each team a quota at the beginning, breaking the salary cap and signing a player (either a foreign player or an American player, but no team is willing to break the salary cap for American players). Of course, DP places are interchangeable. Another international initiative of MLS was to cooperate with Mexican Football League I in 2007 to create a new event, SuperLiga. MLS and the top four teams in the Mexican Football League can participate in this competition, and the prize money is as high as millions of dollars. In the first year of 2007, the competition was an unprecedented success, both in attendance and influence. In 2008, MLS adjusted the foreign aid limit again, and the number of foreign aid allowed by each team increased by one, from seven to eight. Although the team's foreign aid restrictions have been relaxed, it is a rational growth on the basis of a relatively mature system, giving full consideration to the balance between the development of local players and the improvement of competition level. Dinamo Houston won two consecutive championships with almost pure American and Canadian players. In the 2006 and 2007 All-Star Games, the MLS All-Star Team beat Chelsea by10 and Glasgow Celtics by 2-0. In 2007, Beckham, Blanco, Angel, Denilson and Reina (the old guy is the only American player occupying DP so far) occupied the first batch of Beckham's regular places and came to MLS. In addition, Guillermo Barros Sheloto (in my opinion, the most cost-effective and effective introduction) and Abel Xavier are noteworthy foreign AIDS that do not occupy Beckham's regular quota. In 2007, the new force Toronto International Team made good achievements in the first year of MLS, and their fans were quite enthusiastic and often full. After the end of the 2007 season, MLS, together with organizations from several related countries, announced the establishment of another intercontinental club competition, namely the Pan-Pacific Club Championship, which included clubs from Japan, Australia and the United States. In the past, MLS talents were mainly selected from universities or signed from other youth training systems. At the end of 2006, MLS put forward a plan to create a youth training system. Each MLS team can establish its own youth training system and recruit personnel from its own youth training system to join MLS. This is another reference to the football model of European clubs. On June 5438+ 10, 2008, Chivas USA, DC United and New York Red Bull were able to formally sign players for their youth teams.