"I get asked this a lot: Why has soccer not succeeded? My answer is, soccer has succeeded. It is already the fastest growing youth participation sport in the U.S. It has already succeeded at the youth level, no question"
About this Quote
Hunt’s move here is a classic reframing: he takes a question soaked in American impatience - “Why hasn’t soccer succeeded?” - and treats it like a bad premise rather than a real inquiry. The opening, “I get asked this a lot,” signals fatigue with the pundit script. Then comes the pivot: soccer hasn’t failed; the scoreboard people are using is wrong.
The intent is persuasive and strategic, less a status update than a demand to change the criteria for “success.” Hunt relocates the debate from TV ratings and major-league cultural dominance to infrastructure: kids, fields, weekend leagues, the slow accretion of habits. That’s why the repetition of “already” matters. It’s a word doing PR work, insisting that the future has quietly arrived while the gatekeepers were watching other sports.
The subtext is also a gentle critique of American sports chauvinism. In the U.S., legitimacy often gets defined by immediate spectacle: packed stadiums, prime-time deals, star-making machines. Hunt argues that soccer’s real victory is upstream, in participation, not downstream in celebrity. Youth adoption is not a consolation prize; it’s the pipeline.
Contextually, this reads like a businessman-owner trying to widen the horizon. If you’re investing in a sport that grows by generation, you need the public to stop asking why it isn’t the NFL and start noticing it’s becoming the default childhood sport. Hunt’s confidence isn’t naivete; it’s a long game dressed up as an answer.
The intent is persuasive and strategic, less a status update than a demand to change the criteria for “success.” Hunt relocates the debate from TV ratings and major-league cultural dominance to infrastructure: kids, fields, weekend leagues, the slow accretion of habits. That’s why the repetition of “already” matters. It’s a word doing PR work, insisting that the future has quietly arrived while the gatekeepers were watching other sports.
The subtext is also a gentle critique of American sports chauvinism. In the U.S., legitimacy often gets defined by immediate spectacle: packed stadiums, prime-time deals, star-making machines. Hunt argues that soccer’s real victory is upstream, in participation, not downstream in celebrity. Youth adoption is not a consolation prize; it’s the pipeline.
Contextually, this reads like a businessman-owner trying to widen the horizon. If you’re investing in a sport that grows by generation, you need the public to stop asking why it isn’t the NFL and start noticing it’s becoming the default childhood sport. Hunt’s confidence isn’t naivete; it’s a long game dressed up as an answer.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sports |
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