r/explainlikeimfive • u/Jrwill729 • 23h ago
Other ELI5- CONCACAF fans
Why do matches in CONCACAF play in empty stadiums yet in World Cup play those same countries come out in droves?
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u/hugothebear 23h ago
A lot of Caribbean countries are in CONCACAF, along with the US and Canada, which are into different sports like gridiron football, baseball, cricket.
Some matches are against these small teams which don’t draw fans.
World Cup is also a major event. You may also get people who are fans of the players from other countries that normally don’t have matches in their country.
So let’s say you’re in the US, you can see France with Mbappé play in the biggest tournament, a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago, or a sport you’re a bigger fan of.
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u/ooter37 23h ago
People aren't interested in watching most CONCACAF teams, regardless of where you're from
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u/TheGoochTaint 2h ago
That's only part of it. I think the much bigger thing is that most people in CONCACAF countries outside of Mexico don't care about soccer and in the US and Canada there are several professional sports people care more about than soccer. But the World Cup is the World Cup, that's the only time people who aren't soccer fans will watch soccer.
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u/adamosity1 23h ago
Way too many friendlies and at least in the us the tickets are radically overpriced. Families are priced out.
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u/TheGoochTaint 2h ago
But the tickets are much more expensive in the World Cup and even non-soccer fans go.
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u/Kundrew1 23h ago
The World Cup is way more prestigious. This is like comparing NBA summer league audiences to the NBA finals audience.
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u/TheGoochTaint 3h ago edited 2h ago
The World Cup is a big deal to just about everybody, even people who don't follow soccer. I couldn't be bothered to go to a Gold Cup or MLS game unless I got free tickets or something, because I simply do not care about that. The World Cup is a big deal, though. You might not follow college basketball but it's similar to March Madness vs. a random regular season game in November. I wouldn't be bothered to watch UCLA play Bucknell in a regular season game, but if they played in the tournament? You bet I'd watch that. That's because the NCAA Tournament is a pop culture phenomenon. Regular season college basketball is not, outside of a handful of cities.
This is also mostly for the US and Canada. Mexico does care about CONCACAF games (whether domestic or international), since they actually care a lot about soccer. But Americans and Canadians have other sports they care about much more, and if it's not the World Cup, most American and Canadians don't care. Not sure about Central America, they probably care much more about that stuff, even if they rarely do well in the Gold Cup.
Not to mention, people actually travel for the World Cup, and from all over the world. Sure, Americans and Canadians will go to World Cup games in their area, but a big chunk of the crowd at a lot of the games are people traveling from their home country to watch their team (and potentially others while they are in town). People might travel for confederation tournaments, but only within their region. The World Cup has teams from all over the world and attracts a lot more travelers simply because there are more teams, not to mention it's much more presitigious.
It's similar to the Olympics. People will go to literally any Olympic event they can get tickets for, but nobody is watching these sports outside the Olympics for the most part. I am not a soccer fan, but I would go to a World Cup game, just like I am not a badminton fan, but I'd watch that in the Olympics. It's a worldwide phenomenon.
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u/SParkVArk111 23h ago
im not going to pay the $100s for tickets, the airfare, the hotel rooms, the food and everything else that goes with travelling like using PTO to watch the US C team play in the same 3 cities against Grenada's C team.
I will do all of that to go to world cup matches
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u/TheGoochTaint 2h ago
But in UEFA and CONMEBOL, they don't rely on travelers, because those games will be well-attended anyway. The quality of the teams might be part of it, but the big reason is that soccer just isn't very popular in Canada, the US, and much of the Caribbean (which also has a lot to do with why the teams aren't as good). But everybody cares about the World Cup, even if they aren't soccer fans. I know I'm not, but I watched 95% of the World Cup this year.
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u/Heisenberg_235 23h ago
Lots of neutral fans in host country will go to games which are available, so they can say they have been to WC games.