How can US Soccer think that it's a good idea for World Cup Qualifying games to be shown only on Paramount+?
Because CBS gave them significantly more money than ESPN or Fox did for these away matches and CBS feels the best way to get their ROI is to make people but Paramount+
Let's be real, casuals aren't watching road CONCACAF WCQs. The people who want to watch this, generally will want to see Champions League too. I appreciate this a lot more than what NBC did to the Premier League.
I am definitely not a casual soccer fan, but I'm not dealing with Paramount+ or the Peacock streaming. Moreover, there are some fans that are more casual than me that would watch if it was on non-streaming only network. However, by having the game on Paramount+, casual fans and some highly interested fans (e.g. my kids and me), did not watch the game and are just a little less invested in the USMNT as a result. It doesn't matter if US Soccer gets more money from CBS. They should tell anyone bidding on WCQ games that they cannot only be available on a streaming network.
US Soccer is not a for profit entity. Their mission, as far as I am concerned, is to win World Cups. The way to do that is to get more people interested in soccer and have more kids playing soccer. Showing games on Paramount+ does not do that. Even with the increased money, US Soccer does not spend it in a way to increase interest in the game. They do basically nothing to help kids facing financial barriers to playing soccer and do nothing to discourage kids from playing for clubs where the only thing that matters is money.
Slight aside, this is a very surprising take from you. I guess capitalism does have it's limits. I do agree with you that US Soccer needs to prioritize growing the game over profits, but they have made it very clear that they have and will prioritize making money over growing the game. They've done it on every single level of soccer, from u3 to the senior national teams. Wasn't it you that advocated for pay-to-play? Sorry if it wasn't. I had this complaint about their ticket prices. The Champions League final has cheaper get in ticket prices than what the prices were for that USA/Canada WCQ in Nashville. I can't imagine what they are going to charge for tickets when they play these qualifiers in the smaller soccer specific stadiums. I paid $140 face value, for a damn Gold Cup pool play match.
No, the road matches shouldn't be on Paramount+, but the greed is consistent and no where close to the most egregious act of routine greed that USSF performs. The CEO of US Soccer makes north of $700,000 per year.
If an organization is going to claim it is a non-profit, then I don't think it should be able to go around trying to enrich people and not fulfilling its mission. Even the NFL is no longer a non-profit. I would generally be in favor of getting rid of non-profit status, especially for organizations like US Soccer and college athletics. I would not have much of a problem with US Soccer doing whatever they want if they were not a non-profit. I would understand their mission is to enrich people and not promote soccer in the US.
I would also not have a problem with US Soccer having games on Paramount+ if they used the additional money to actually promote soccer in the US. US Soccer is terrible at this and never uses its piles of money to actually grow the game. They use the money to enrich some cronies and that's about it. I do not like pay to play. I always ask those who say it must go away what their alternative is. In my opinion, the alternative is US Soccer using the money it has to develop players. However, that is not happening so pay to play is going to stick around until US Soccer changes its mind about how it spends its money. Creating scholarships and developing a solidarity payment system to reward youth clubs are basic first steps US Soccer could take.
US Soccer also needs to force state associations to make soccer accessible to kids in all communities, not just metro areas. If you want to play soccer at any sort of competitive level in Kansas, you have to play in Kansas City or in Wichita. That means if you live in Manhattan, you have to drive 2 hours to play league games. You also have to go to KC or Wichita to play in tournaments. It is almost impossible for tournaments outside of Wichita and Kansas City to be held. Even the tournaments in Wichita are weakly attended with combined age groups many times. A lot of the reason for this is the number of tournaments in the KC area. There are so many that the KC area teams basically refuse to travel. A few do, but not many. KSYSA has got to do something to give families outside of KC (and Wichita) a break on the travel. It is choking the game out and driving kids away from the sport. There is a turf field in Manhattan and a turf field in Topeka. There is no reason KC teams can't do a little traveling to benefit the sport overall.