States of Play

This book captures the historical position and contemporary status of soccer in the United States. Drawing from across twenty-five years of interdisciplinary scholarship, the volume documents the development of soccer along five interrelated trajectories. The first section, Exceptionalities includes work that examines the exceptional orientation of American media and fans to the sport. The Femininities trajectory addresses the success and position of women's soccer in the US. The Challenges section considers the range of factors that have limited growth and constrained fandom, whereas the gateways portion reveals some of the mechanisms that have rendered the sport more appealing to Americans (e.g., video games, popular fictional characters, and national teams). The final area, pockets, profiles the historical, regional, and ethnic locations in which the sport has found footing in the US. This volume is invaluable for students, scholars and practitioners interested in sports studies and American cultural studies, spanning sports sociology, gender studies, media representation, fan culture, immigration and ethnicity, regional studies, and the globalization of sport. The chapters in this book were originally published in Soccer & Society, the first and only academic journal devoted to a single sport, and includes a new Introduction. The collection balances broad considerations alongside specific case studies throughout - thereby presenting readers with a time capsule reflecting the 'states' of play in advance of the 2026 FIFA World Cup that the US will co-host with Mexico and Canada.

Jeffrey W. Kassing is faculty at Arizona State University. His work explores sport, politics, media, fandom and soccer. He co-authored The Art of Tifo: Identity, Representation, and Performing Fandom in Football/Soccer and co-edited Football and Diaspora: Connecting Dispersed Communities through the Global Game.

Introduction: An American Time Capsule: Retrospection and Reflexivity Regarding Soccer in the United States 1. National Sports and Other Myths: The Failure of US Soccer 2. Fleet Feet: The USSF and the Peculiarities of Soccer Fandom in America. 3. Soccer as Un-American Activity: A Thematic Analysis of Online US Media and Flopping in the World's Game 4. Footballers, Migrants and Scholars: The Globalization of US Men's College Soccer 5. Women's Soccer in the United States: Yet Another American 'Exceptionalism' 6. Critical Events or Critical Conditions: The 1999 Women's World Cup and the Women's United Soccer Association 7. Soccer in the USA: 'Holding Out for a Hero?' 8. She's the Man: Michelle Akers 'Unruly' Game and the 'Potentiality' of Queer Failure in Early Development of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team 9. Flawed Heroes and Great Talents: The Challenges Associated with Framing Soccer Legends in the NASL 10. All Together Now, Click: MLS Soccer Fans in Cyberspace 11. The Importance of Building Positive Relationships Between Hispanic Audiences and Major League Soccer Franchises: A Case Study of the Public Relations Challenges Facing Houston 1836 12. American Soccer at a Crossroad: MLS's Struggle Between the Exigencies of Traditional American Sports Culture and the Expectations of the Global Soccer Community 13. 'For Club and Country?': The Impact of the International Game on US Soccer Supporters from the 1994 World Cup to the Present 14. Home Field Advantage? Exploring Credibility of British and American Announcers Covering United States Soccer 15. Overcoming American Exceptionalism and Media Antipathy Via the Digital Pitch: Soccer, Attitudinal Change, and Video Game Play 16. Coach Lasso and the Embodiment of American Exceptionalism: NBC Sports' Promotion of English Premier League Football as the Foreign Sport 17. Adaptive Transnational Identity and the Selling of Soccer: The New England Revolution and Lusophone Migrant Populations 18. Vamos, Vamos Aceirteros: Soccer and the Latino Community in Richmond, California 19. The Promise of Soccer in America: The Open Play of Ethnic Subcultures 20. Cooper's Block: America's First Soccer Neighbourhood