High Spirits

This time it's for real . . . we think. Although soccer has already captured the hearts and feet of the nation's athletic youth (it's the number-one supervised team sports activity for players under age 18), it's long been a question mark as to when professional soccer would enjoy the mainstream popularity that-until recently, at least-has seemed so elusive. Oh, sure, the World Cup competition of two years ago generated headlines and increased awareness of the sport. But that particular strain of soccer fever cooled once the fields were emptied.

Enter Major League Soccer (MLS). The 10-team professional league, which debuted in April and concludes its season in October, hopes to take soccer's popularity to a whole new level in the United States. And with its first few games drawing larger-than-expected crowds, MLS definitely seems to be a kick in the right direction.

"It's a tough row to hoe for a new sport coming on like soccer is," says Sandy Briggs of the Soccer Industry Council of America. "But certainly, the initial results [from the league] are quite encouraging."

Our advice to retailers and manufacturers: Keep your eye on the ball. In a recent survey conducted by Sporting Goods Business magazine, more than half the sporting goods and soccer specialty retailers polled predicted at least a 10 percent jump in sales for soccer products this year. Really.

This article was originally published in the July 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: High Spirits.