Ricardo Pepi - The Next Missed Opportunity To Promote Soccer For Youth

[Anonymous]

I'm beginning to think the US issue with a fledgling soccer fan base is not really a talent deficit. But more parents who drive the marketing dollars away from their children. The NFL rules. We all complain about how boring baseball is to watch, but yet it will be dominating prime time networks and talk shows in a couple of weeks. In most countries, every kid would be talking about Ricardo Pepi as soon as they get to school this morning or begging their parents to buy them a jersey. Today, few kids know who Pepi is. I don't have a quick-fix solution, but this talk of moving soccer to the center stage has been happening for two decades...and the side stage is still not seeing soccer. What will it take to give our kids role models and inspire them? Because they certainly have it in most other sports.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I've never even heard of Richardo Pepi and I bet my son hasn't either and my son is an older ECNL player. I say that to imply that he's pretty much 24/7 soccer but he only watches a little EPL and absolute zero MLS. I bet we couldn't name 2 MLS players. His friends rarely talk about pro soccer. They always always tackle football (constantly about fantasy football) or basketball when in season. They all think baseball is a joke though...which I agree with.

[Anonymous]

Soccer just isn’t part of the culture here. Some countries have rugby, or cricket, or whatever that is part of the culture. The money follows the culture which makes it stay at the top of the culture. Hard to see how it ever breaks the cycle. Maybe a huge event, say winning a World Cup or Olympic gold, could capture attention and start a change like in womens soccer but it still took decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I've never even heard of Richardo Pepi and I bet my son hasn't either and my son is an older ECNL player. I say that to imply that he's pretty much 24/7 soccer but he only watches a little EPL and absolute zero MLS. I bet we couldn't name 2 MLS players. His friends rarely talk about pro soccer. They always always tackle football (constantly about fantasy football) or basketball when in season. They all think baseball is a joke though...which I agree with.

Do you watch soccer with your kid? Do you show an interest in watching soccer? My DC watch soccer all the time, whether its highlights or watching an entire game. EPL is on in the morning, which is why we watch more of it. We started to get into MLS although it can be challenging with a game start of 10 p.m.

[Anonymous]

I watched that game last night and my soccer kid wandered in and out of the room and never managed to see any good plays. He doesn't watch any other sports either though!

Watching pro-soccer in person is much more fun though, even the lower tiers and the tickets are cheap where I live. He's much more into it when he has a connection to the team/player.

I might buy him a Pepi jersey anyways, what a player!

[Anonymous]

Soccer in the US doesn't pay enough for the kids to be attracted too Like Basketball. football, or even baseball. The Lifestyle and celebrity we promote. The huge homes, the cars, the Louis Vuitton and Gucci bags. The overall cool rich factor that we dont have with soccer is another reason our kids are drawn to other sports celebrities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Soccer in the US doesn't pay enough for the kids to be attracted too Like Basketball. football, or even baseball. The Lifestyle and celebrity we promote. The huge homes, the cars, the Louis Vuitton and Gucci bags. The overall cool rich factor that we dont have with soccer is another reason our kids are drawn to other sports celebrities.

You've succinctly outlined how screwed up we've become as a society. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Fyi here is a great article about him, written after the Honduras game

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4491888/the-unstoppable-dreams-of-usmnt-prodigy-ricardo-pepi

[Anonymous]

Pulisic was the Great Hope and unless he turns it around, he will not seriously change the outlook on Men's Soccer in the US. I think he has already made a small dent but needs a lot more success.

In order for the sport to change in the US, one of two things has to happen and both are highly unlikely.

1. World Cup Semi's or better or 2. A US born soccer legend. Claudio Reyna is next up but his chances are looking less and less.

Ricardo Pepi is just a MLS player and the MLS is kind of a joke. If he were to Transfer to some Premier League or La Liga team, and become an international star, than he can put another dent in the US Youth Sport system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Soccer in the US doesn't pay enough for the kids to be attracted too Like Basketball. football, or even baseball. The Lifestyle and celebrity we promote. The huge homes, the cars, the Louis Vuitton and Gucci bags. The overall cool rich factor that we dont have with soccer is another reason our kids are drawn to other sports celebrities.

You've succinctly outlined how screwed up we've become as a society. Thank you.

Yes unfortunately thats another obstacle we face in the promotion of soccer. Social media has widen the gap. When our kids see Lebron or Russel Wilsons lifestyle on IG it shows them a different world than anything you see with US born soccer players. On the field is only a tool for success of the field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm beginning to think the US issue with a fledgling soccer fan base is not really a talent deficit. But more parents who drive the marketing dollars away from their children. The NFL rules. We all complain about how boring baseball is to watch, but yet it will be dominating prime time networks and talk shows in a couple of weeks. In most countries, every kid would be talking about Ricardo Pepi as soon as they get to school this morning or begging their parents to buy them a jersey. Today, few kids know who Pepi is. I don't have a quick-fix solution, but this talk of moving soccer to the center stage has been happening for two decades...and the side stage is still not seeing soccer. What will it take to give our kids role models and inspire them? Because they certainly have it in most other sports.

#Lame. The NFL has zero global competition. MLS does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pulisic was the Great Hope and unless he turns it around, he will not seriously change the outlook on Men's Soccer in the US. I think he has already made a small dent but needs a lot more success.

In order for the sport to change in the US, one of two things has to happen and both are highly unlikely.

1. World Cup Semi's or better or 2. A US born soccer legend. Claudio Reyna is next up but his chances are looking less and less.

Ricardo Pepi is just a MLS player and the MLS is kind of a joke. If he were to Transfer to some Premier League or La Liga team, and become an international star, than he can put another dent in the US Youth Sport system.

He might be "just a MLS" player, but he is only 18 and couldn't go to Europe before now anyways. Bayern has already shown interest in him. He will be going to Europe soon

[Anonymous]

Am PP - can't actually order USMNT jerseys for specific players, only USWNT...

Can get Pepi's FC Dallas jersey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Soccer in the US doesn't pay enough for the kids to be attracted too Like Basketball. football, or even baseball. The Lifestyle and celebrity we promote. The huge homes, the cars, the Louis Vuitton and Gucci bags. The overall cool rich factor that we dont have with soccer is another reason our kids are drawn to other sports celebrities.

You've succinctly outlined how screwed up we've become as a society. Thank you.

Yes unfortunately thats another obstacle we face in the promotion of soccer. Social media has widen the gap. When our kids see Lebron or Russel Wilsons lifestyle on IG it shows them a different world than anything you see with US born soccer players. On the field is only a tool for success of the field.

I don’t buy that excuse. There are plenty of soccer stars with tons of money. They just happen to not be in the US. Messi, Renaldo have bigger social media followings and make as much money as any NBA star. Soccer is just not a top tier sport in the US in terms of interest. That’s ok. Neither is hockey or cricket or lacrosse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Soccer in the US doesn't pay enough for the kids to be attracted too Like Basketball. football, or even baseball. The Lifestyle and celebrity we promote. The huge homes, the cars, the Louis Vuitton and Gucci bags. The overall cool rich factor that we dont have with soccer is another reason our kids are drawn to other sports celebrities.

You've succinctly outlined how screwed up we've become as a society. Thank you.

Yes unfortunately thats another obstacle we face in the promotion of soccer. Social media has widen the gap. When our kids see Lebron or Russel Wilsons lifestyle on IG it shows them a different world than anything you see with US born soccer players. On the field is only a tool for success of the field.

I don’t buy that excuse. There are plenty of soccer stars with tons of money. They just happen to not be in the US. Messi, Renaldo have bigger social media followings and make as much money as any NBA star. Soccer is just not a top tier sport in the US in terms of interest. That’s ok. Neither is hockey or cricket or lacrosse.

The difference and disconnect is that about 12 million youth play soccer in the U.S. each year. Safe to say that at least half of American youth play organized soccer at some point. Hockey, cricket, and lacrosse are probably a combined 10% - if that. Hockey does have stars to follow and kids do follow them. The other two are marginal / regional sports in the US. Soccer is not marginal or regional.