UEFA --> Marketing Football to North America Audiences

non-european audiences like highly physical games too, fights, big hits and big collisions is what they want to see

I don't believe I've ever ranted in these forums before, so here goes:

There seems to be some antiquated notion amongst most people here that football isn't that big of a deal. It really is ridiculous considering it is the biggest sport on the planet, but many just don't understand or even attempt to. They just treat it as a women's and a foreign person's sport and don't think about it. Today somebody on my Facebook news feed posted "only 24 hours until I have FIFA 12" and within seconds somebody responded "Cool story, you're one of 5 people in the world who give a shit." Within a few minutes it had 5 likes. I felt like I was going to explode. Some people need to leave this continent and see how little people give a shit about some of the common sports here; in many countries hockey, baseball, AMERICAN FOOTBALL!!!, etc. don't even exist. Even the big sports channels here barely cover football.

I mean, why do we watch sports, really? Okay there are neutrals out there who can just enjoy watching people compete, but plain and simple the reason we do it is for the passion. Us vs. them. It simply doesn't get any more intense than football when it comes to this. Once you understand how emotional it can be, football is hard to turn away from. Of course, that's the problem isn't it, getting hooked? As a kid in Canada you grow up thinking that if you become a pro hockey player, you won't become a pro athlete, you'll be a hero! You'll be fighting for something that appears to matter to people. Where is that incentive for football? There are some crazy TFC fans, but honestly is a kid watching them in the MLS (when they show it on TV), seeing them lose the majority of the time, going to think "one day, I will be the one making that select group of passionate fans go wild?" No, because that's not enough incentive to make yourself dedicate your life to something, especially in a sport where you also need a good team to succeed often times. Nobody will tell you to try to do it for a living here, unlike hockey where you can be half-ass and you will still be expected to try your best.

Even if we look at talent, every kid in Canada and the US has tried playing football. Many will love it for the first 10 years of their life but then stop for good once they get into their teens to pursue 'real sports' where they have a slightly more realistic chance of making it. It's almost a forgone conclusion now that if you come from Canada or the US that you can't become a pro footballer unless you're a mega talent or your parents are foreign. It's like a magical curse disables us from being good at the sport. Umm, no. A kid I've known since grade school was in the Ontario All-Star high school team for 2 years running, and when he came to university he decided he was done playing for good, without even trying to go pro. He is now trying to play hockey and get picked up even though he's only meh at it. It is absolutely ridiculous. This is another problem though that has been mentioned: the sport needs a star from our own country for it to really grow. Owen Hargreaves could have been a legend here if he decided to represent Canada, Begovic too. If Junior Hoilett becomes world class, it could be groundbreaking.

The biggest problems for me in terms of talent is lack of scouts and youth football structure. Unless you live in Toronto, Vancouver or somewhere with a decent pro team you could be Pele and the chances of getting scouted without putting in a big effort are slim to none. To even have a chance you have to take huge road trips to tournaments that you often have to pay lots of money to even compete in. And does anybody here actually go to their local team games? My local team has only existed for about 4 months now and nobody goes to their games. There is no local passion. You need to explore European football yourself to figure out how big it is.

What we need are more teams (youth and pro), more structure, more scouts, more media coverage, and more money. We need passionate people trying to spread the word. We also need some stars. This sport will take over eventually I think, but an effort needs to be made. The faster, the better.

Took notes of peoples posts, and a discussion we held yesterday....will post my main points and some other facts we need to consider later today .