CHAPTER ELEVEN:

THe IMPACT OF LATINO IMMIGRATION

During the early 1990s, immigration to the United States from latino countries peaked. This created growing communities around the country that brought a passion for futbol with them. It matched US Soccer’s ambition to grow the the sport commercially, focusing initially on attendance at the 1984 Olympics, then carrying into the 1994 World Cup and ultimately culminating in a targeted effort to market early Major League Soccer (MLS) franchises to the latino community. The marriage paid dividends for both parties. US Soccer and, more specifically, MLS had a large consumer population interested in the game domestically. The latino communities didn’t have to give up the sport they loved when moving to the US, as many previous generations had. With the growing latino population, soccer also grew in America.

(Photo credit: US Soccer)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THE IMPACT OF LATINO IMMIGRATION

lWhile the latino population has been critical to building both the commercial success and popularity of soccer in America, there’s a dark underbelly as well.

Simply stated, the growing cost of youth soccer — “pay to play” — has made it incredibly difficulty for underserved populations to participate in the sport. This is notably true for latino communities. The result is omission of talented players from the pathways that offer athletes opportunities to play at the college level or even the national team level.

While there have been latino stars as part of the USMNT program — the likes of Marcelo Balboa, Claudio Reyna, Tab Ramos, Carlos Bocanegra and more — the reality that we have more work to do in order to make the game truly accessible to all communities within the country.

(Photo credit: Soccer, Football, Whatever)

Our GUEST

Andrés Martinez is New America’s editorial director for Future Tense. He grew up in Mexico a passionate futbol fan, then moved to the United States in the 80s, searching for a connection to the game he left behind.

Martinez is also the editorial director of Zócalo Public Square, and professor of practice at the Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. Previously, Martinez was vice president, director of the Fellows program, and editorial director at New America. Martinez initially joined New America as a fellow.

Before joining New America in 2007, Martinez was the editorial page editor of The Los Angeles Times. He previously served as assistant editorial page editor at The New York Times, and was a member of that newspaper’s editorial board from 2000 to 2004, writing editorials on a variety of national and foreign topics. He was a 2004 Pulitzer Prize finalist for a series of editorials on the impact of U.S. farm subsidies on the developing world.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

To learn more about Anson Dorrance and his importance to the growth of the game in America, we recommend the following resources.

Articles

Our PERSPECTIVE

For so long, soccer was relegated to ethnic communities, and people believed it would only grow if it became a mainstream sport. However, once mainstream events — like the Olympics and World Cup — brought attention to the game, US Soccer officials then turned back to ethnic communities, and specifically latino communities to help build the sport into something sustainable. The growth of latino communities at just the right time, with just the right characteristics of soccer passion, were a perfect marriage to help soccer grow in America.