Niche Sports Can be Big Time, Too!

Plenty of Room for “Niche” Sports to Succeed
The Houston Dynamo qualified for their fourth conference final in the last six seasons with a 1-0 win over Philadelphia Thursday night. Unfortunately, due to their status as what is often called a “niche” sport not enough Houston sports fans may have noticed. They should.

The Dynamo play soccer and that has never been nor likely will be more than a

“niche” sport with the majority of people in the United States. Baseball, football (American style) and basketball have had too much of a head start in capturing the hearts of most fans. This is a big country, however, and the sport still has plenty of room to succeed. It will just be on a smaller level. Having said that it is quite impressive that 24,749 fans jammed Robertson Stadium for the finale at that local for the Dynamo who must play the rest of their post season on the road and will move into a new (large enough?) stadium of their own near Minute Maid Park in May 2012. The Dynamo have had solid on field success—including two MLS Cup championships—that have attracted fans who follow winners. The new stadium will give them a chance to expose more Houstonians to their game. That will be a good thing.

Hard core soccer fans love to emphasize that their sport (futbol) is the most popular in the world. That cannot be disputed. American football is only a novelty in other parts. Baseball has a foothold in a number of countries in the Carribean and Far East, but only a niche sport in Europe and elsewhere. Basketball is strong in more countries than either of the other two American “Big Three” but is facing a problem of its own in the United States—at least on the professional level.
In fact, with the continued labor problems with the NBA one has to wonder if the top level of basketball may be putting itself in trouble. Could the NBA itself become a niche sport? It is not really the game of basketball in trouble, but perhaps the NBA form of the game. College basketball is huge in many parts of the country. They are also starting to play games and it won’t be long before college hoops will be available almost every night on television. Already there are parts of the nation without NBA franchises that have never paid all that much attention to the league. The TV ratings have always shown more interest in the East and Los Angeles area than anywhere else. When cities put championship teams on the floor—as was the case in Dallas last season—ratings take a jump. Houston is no exception. The Rockets have their hard core fans, but need to win to capture enough of the other potential fans in the city. With the current labor situation as it is, the word “apathy” is being heard more and more toward the team and league.
Years ago I lived and worked in Buffalo, NY. That was a two sport town—the NFL Bills and the NHL Sabres. The NBA Buffalo Braves had relocated to San Diego the year before I arrived. During the winter the Sabres owned that city. No one cared about or even mentioned the NBA, only one year removed from hosting a team.

The city’s teams were the Bills and Sabres. To me the Bills being popular was no surprise. It was the NFL. The passion for the Sabres was something else. I had not grown up in NHL territory and where I lived the NHL was a niche sport. No one talked about it. No one really followed it. The league itself was putting fannies in seats everywhere it was played, though. Cities with no teams did not care.

Soccer in the U.S. is likely in a similar situation. To succeed it doesn’t need to convert or even add many baseball, football or basketball fans. It just needs to put on a good show under pleasant conditions. Winning is a big help. There is no reason the Dynamo cannot continue to be one of the best on their level of the sport. And there is no reason it cannot be a huge success in this very large region.

Now, how about winning against Kansas City and earning a spot in the MLS Cup final? It would be a nice touch to march the Cup into the new stadium next May wouldn’t it?