"The crack of the bat and the roar of the crowds..." No, wait, that's baseball, a game played by men with big, steroid-supplemented arms, and occasionally, a pretty big gut as well. Instead, let's start with Kuper and Szymanski's assertion that "American soccer is alive and well and lying on the sofa watching Manchester United on Fox Soccer Channel."
As an MLS fan, I have blasted those in the U.S. that not only favor foreign soccer, but do so to the extent of shunning the lower-quality American version. My prejudices aside, let's consider the impact of what Kuper and Szymanski consider typical American soccer fandom, but expand it. Considering that for big leagues, like the NFL, MLB, and EPL, TV viewership economically trumps ticket sales, could a team conceivable exist that had no home fans? Can the big teams subsist off sales from abroad? Ceteris parabus, probably. However, would an empty stadium continue to draw viewers?
Hence my opening reference to baseball. I hear those things and it fills me with nostalgia for Reds games with my father. I do not watch, cannot watch, baseball anymore, but come summertime, when channel surfing the radio in my car, if I hear those things, I am instantly transported to the halcyon days of my youth. Then I keep flipping because I don't like the rest of baseball. I still like marching bands and the chants from Ohio State football games. The songs and chants too are part of soccer. For me. This is where I feel Kuper and Szymanski's assertion goes awry, soccer is not alive and well without chants and songs. Economically, I am wrong. Statistically, I am wrong. But culturally, I feel I am correct and soccer is a cultural event.
There is a reason that ESPN will televise far more home games at Qwest Field in Seattle than anywhere else in the MLS. The stadium is full and it is loud, even if it is filled with a bunch of Johnny-come-lately, arrogant, fair-weather friends. There is a reason that there are always camera crews and boom mics near the Barra Brava in DC and Section 8 in Chicago (and there are reasons that sometimes those feeds are cut and their volume muted, I like to call that "over-zealous support" but many soccer moms disagree). Aside from the fact that soccer crazies make damn fine television, the noise from these supporters groups are part of the sensory experience of the game. The strongest argument I have heard against the vuvuzela is that no matter what happens in the game, there is no roar from the crowd, no groans, or disappointed moans, it always sounds like a "swarm of angry bees" (Really, it's the "angry" part that bothers us, why not "happy" or "contented" bees?) and thus it detracts, not improves the game. We as humans are hardwired to respond to the noises of a crowd, the noises agitate or depress us. There are conformity pressures in both supporters' groups and crowds as a whole that increase fan retention. Fandom can offer the same sense of community that keeps other groups - ranging from religions to political parties - together through thick-and-thin. Shouting at the TV from my sofa doesn't improve the game or offer a sense of community (makes me feel better, though).
Now clearly, I and many others went to games held by the traveling European teams this summer, specifically AC Milan vs. Chelsea in Baltimore and DC United vs. Real Madrid, both of which were packed (I think the DC game was packed, I was much more focused on the game. Also, I was drunk and sunburned.). There was some good noise at the DC game and yeah, most of it was for Royal Madrid. At the AC - Chelsea game, you could hear a pin drop most of the game. There were supporters a-plenty and a couple supporters groups. But their chants were faint and in distinct in such a large venue. Now, this may be a function of soccer in America. I have been criticized for standing (or even just jumping up) by families in the non-supporters section. There are long periods of calm in baseball and football, so you can go to a game and discuss work and your stocks like the Seattle fans next to me when I sat in the non-supporter's section for the home DC United - Sounders game. Yet, the noise not present at soccer games in the U.S. is present in other U.S. sports.
Silent, half-empty venues seem to be an anathema to televised sports. Moreover, a couple of big games between big teams does not necessarily equate support for a team over the course of a season, plus various tournament games. I question whether you can claim American soccer is alive and well when it simply watches foreign soccer on TV (American Manchester United support might be alive and well, since there is no better option than FSC). It sounds more like soccer in the U.S. is kept alive by an outside source and I think that's called, "life-support."
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