Death to the Eurosnobs

Paul Gardner's blog over at SoccerAmerica is usually on point about the domestic game, even if he is a bit critical at times with regards to MLS.  His point today, apparently, is that ESPN is going for the quick buck by placating US "eurosnob" fans with an all-English commentating team for the World Cup.  I think the entire discussion raises a larger point about the various factions of the US audience, and leads me to think that maybe we're all just looking at this picture a bit too black and white.  Perhaps its time to simply accept the concept of the "eurosnob", take a bit of the venom out of the distinction and move on.  

This kind of euro-centric elitism among American soccer fans has to be more than a simple statement against the progress of the domestic game.  I just keep finding it harder and harder to take offense when my neighbor would rather wake up for a 7am Arsenal kickoff than head to the Fire game with the local supporters.  To replace one oversimplification with another, this focus on European football instead of American soccer is a simple choice for most Americans.  Thanks to satellites and soccer pubs, it is all too easy to pick an EPL side (or La Liga, or Serie A, etc) and run with it if your only goal is to maximize the quality of your soccer viewing.  You're only as far as your nearest broadcast, with soccer filling in the gaps in the American sports calendar rather nicely, I might add.

The market for soccer eyeballs in the US is still positioned as kind of an either/or statement.  You are either an MLS fan or you are not, a Euro fan or not, a USMNT fan or not.  The reality is that once an American is "switched on" to soccer, their fandom is defined in finer terms than that.  Each fan supports MLS, Euro teams, and USMNT in varying degrees.  The extreme cases of each would be the MLS diehard, the traditional eurosnob, and a member of Sam's Army, but the reality skews more towards the finer individual choices.  Support for each side differs from person to person, but the overall sum should be the most important concept.  In other words, a US viewer should be seen as a "soccer person" more than one faction or another, and the goal of any related decision should be "how does this serve the soccer viewing public?"  With respect to the World cup broadcasting decision, I fully support it along these lines.  A professional broadcast, with talented soccer people behind it, will do more to promote the games and the sport than any specific positioning.  View it as favoring one faction over another, but in the end, all will benefit.