Sleeping Through Games

Around the world most sporting events do not start until at least noon. The reason for this can be found in when will a sports team be able to get the largest number of supports to turn out and watch a match. If sport organizers want to get the highest number of television viewers, those games are usually shown at night when the highest volume of viewers will be able to watch. These “primetime” games are usually the biggest and most highly anticipated. But what happens when you want to follow a sport and the games are at six in the morning?

The Barclay’s Premier league plays most of its games on Saturdays and Sundays. On these days the first games are at around noon and second games take place later in the afternoon. The problem for a fan following the United States comes with the time difference. Most fans of sports have regular jobs that they have to work. With working everyday during the week, weekends are seen as a chance to rest and for most, sleep in. How well does sleeping in mix with having to wake up at 7am to cheer for your club. Coming from someone who has had to do it after a long week, it is never easy.

The trill of watching Manchester United play the derby match against Manchester City and seeing Wayne Rooney’s beautiful bicycle kick sadly was overshadowed by how tired I was. Waking up so early to follow a team makes being a fan a little harder. American Football fans don’t have to worry about waking up at the earliest hours to actually watch the game. Waking up early to party or to tailgate is one thing, but waking up so early to watch a sporting event is not something that would help a sport’s popularity.

I think that in order for Soccer to succeed in America, Major League Soccer has to achieve a large amount of popularity. When trying to bring fans over to a new sport, making the fans have to wake up at very early hours in the morning to watch the best levels of competition. Only well established fans are going to wake up to watch those games. Until that occurs in the United States, it will be hard to bring new fans to the sport due to the MLS’s low level of competition. But Rome wasn’t built in a day and until it is complete we will continue waking up at 7am to place another brick on the foundation.