Photo: Scott Olson
With the start of the 2023 FIFA Woman’s World Cup Soccer Tournament and Lionel Messi’s contract with Inter Miami CF, soccer is taking over the headlines in the United States! Rob Parker and T.J. Houshmandzadeh talk soccer’s popularity in the States and debate if the NFL can ever be dethroned as the most popular U.S. sport. Listen to the full segment above!
Rob Parker - “I’m here to tell you that it won’t be long, and I am going to give it 25-years, that soccer and baseball will overthrow the NFL and become the biggest sports in this country... it’s not some hate on the NFL, but in this country as it turns more and more Hispanic and it is, they will be the majority of the population in the country... When you talk about Hispanics they are crazy about soccer and crazy about baseball!”
T.J. Houshmandzadeh - “Soccer will have to increase their pay! These parents aren’t going to push their kids into soccer if in the United States they make far less than any sport other like football or basketball. If they want it to be as big as it is in Europe they have to pay like they are paying in Europe! Soccer will never get on par with football if the pay doesn’t increase!”