Soccer in Boise: Two Decades of Growth
Brandon Reinstein, February 12th, 2018 1:58 AM MST
Soccer is, without dispute, the most popular world sport. That being said, the United States have generally gravitated more towards football and basketball, with no other sports coming close in popularity. Historically, Idaho was no different.
Over the past couple decades, however, the Boise area has seen massive growth in the development and participation in youth soccer leagues. Facilities, league infrastructure, coaching, and competition have all taken massive steps forward. In the late 90's and early 2000's, most high schools had one varsity soccer team at most. Competitive teams might have one team per gender at a given age. Today, many high schools have varsity, junior varsity, and freshman teams for both genders. Competitive teams have two to three teams per age group and gender. The result, numerically, is that an age group that might have had 80 athletes before now likely has over 500. It's quite the increase!
This massive increase in participation has brought about previously unheard of possibilities to the Boise area. Recently, a professional soccer game was played at BSU (pictured below) to gauge public interest in the sport from a commercial aspect. The tickets quickly sold out. Plans are now underway to bring a professional soccer franchise to downtown Boise.
In the past two decades, Boise has gone from a city where soccer was a sport very much on the fringe to being on the verge of being a major "soccer city." At this point, soccer fans can be optimistic that the time will soon come when Boise will be known for more than football in the sports community.
Soccer is, without dispute, the most popular world sport. That being said, the United States have generally gravitated more towards football and basketball, with no other sports coming close in popularity. Historically, Idaho was no different.
Over the past couple decades, however, the Boise area has seen massive growth in the development and participation in youth soccer leagues. Facilities, league infrastructure, coaching, and competition have all taken massive steps forward. In the late 90's and early 2000's, most high schools had one varsity soccer team at most. Competitive teams might have one team per gender at a given age. Today, many high schools have varsity, junior varsity, and freshman teams for both genders. Competitive teams have two to three teams per age group and gender. The result, numerically, is that an age group that might have had 80 athletes before now likely has over 500. It's quite the increase!
This massive increase in participation has brought about previously unheard of possibilities to the Boise area. Recently, a professional soccer game was played at BSU (pictured below) to gauge public interest in the sport from a commercial aspect. The tickets quickly sold out. Plans are now underway to bring a professional soccer franchise to downtown Boise.
In the past two decades, Boise has gone from a city where soccer was a sport very much on the fringe to being on the verge of being a major "soccer city." At this point, soccer fans can be optimistic that the time will soon come when Boise will be known for more than football in the sports community.
Brandon,
ReplyDeleteHuge soccer fan, stepped away from the sport a few years ago so i am excited to read your blog and get caught up on all the action going on.
-Camden
It's getting pretty big - even this past few years there has been a lot of growth!
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