Those Who Doubt Soccer's American Future. . . Should pay attention to the ratings the New York Mets are getting for their Spanish language broadcasts -- especially in light of the ratings these broadcasts are getting vis a vis ice hockey:
Fox Sports New York has found a new audience for Met games. Its three Spanish-language broadcasts of Met games have averaged a .72 rating. That is more than 52,000 homes.
To put those numbers in perspective, you should know that the combined average ratings of the Islanders (.31) and the Devils (.18) fall significantly below the Spanish-language Met broadcasts.
The numbers make sense when one considers that 1.14 million of the 7.3 million viewing audience is Spanish-speaking. The next game in Spanish is July 23 against the Expos.
While Soccer in the U.S. may never again reach the levels we saw in the NASL in the 1970s (Cosmos sellouts in the Meadowlands were regular events), the changing demographics of the U.S. promise to deliver more eager Soccer heads than some people want to imagine.
