Listen to football historian John Sloop trace the history of soccer in the US on The Conversation Weekly podcast.
收听足球历史学家约翰·斯鲁普在《对话周刊》播客中追溯美国足球历史的讲述。
When Roberto Baggio missed a penalty in the 1994 Fifa World Cup final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, more than 94,000 people were there to watch Italian heartbreak and Brazilian ecstasy.
当罗伯托·巴乔在1994年世界杯决赛于加州帕萨迪纳的玫瑰碗遗失点球时，超过94,000人到场观看意大利的心碎和巴西的狂喜。
To this day, no other World Cup has been as well attended as the 1994 tournament. Tickets were cheap and abundant, and despite the relatively low profile of the game in the US compared to sports like baseball or basketball, people went along to see what it was all about.
直到今天，没有其他世界杯能像1994年的赛事一样盛况空前。门票便宜且充足，尽管与棒球或篮球等运动相比，足球在美国的关注度相对较低，但人们还是慕名而来，想看看这究竟是什么样的。
Now, three decades later, as the 2026 World Cup returns to North America with games across Mexico, Canada and the US, soccer has grown a much larger and more dedicated fan base in America.
现在，三十年过去了，随着2026年世界杯将重返北美，比赛将在墨西哥、加拿大和美国各地举行，美国的足球已经拥有了一个更大、更忠诚的粉丝群体。
In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to John Sloop, a professor of communication studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and historian of soccer and its fans in the United States, about what’s changed for the men’s game in the US and whether the popularity has staying power.
在本期《对话周报》播客中，我们采访了范德堡大学（位于田纳西州纳什维尔）传播学教授约翰·斯鲁普，一位研究美国足球及其球迷的历史学家，讨论在美国男子足球运动发生了哪些变化，以及这种人气是否具有持续性。
From Pelé to Messi
从贝利到梅西
Part of the deal for Fifa choosing the US to host the 1994 World Cup was for the country to set up is own professional soccer league, Major League Soccer, which is now home to global football stars including Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Uruguay’s Luis Suárez.
国际足联选择美国举办1994年世界杯的一部分协议是，该国要建立自己的职业足球联赛——美国职业足球大联盟（Major League Soccer），目前这里汇聚了包括阿根廷的利奥内尔·梅西和乌拉圭的路易斯·苏亚雷斯在内的全球球星。
But it wasn’t the first American professional league. In the 1960s, investors looking around for a new venture launched the North American Soccer League, which ran from 1968 to 1984. It originally struggled to get off the ground, but then in 1975, the New York Cosmos managed to lure Brazilian great Pelé out of retirement, reportedly for US$4 million. Other players followed, including Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer, Dutchman Johan Cruyff and England’s Bobby Moore.
但这并非第一个美国的职业联赛。在20世纪60年代，一些寻找新事业的投资者推出了北美足球联盟（North American Soccer League），该联赛运行于1968年至1984年间。它最初难以立足，但随后在1975年，纽约宇宙队成功地从退役状态中引回了巴西传奇人物贝利，据报道费用高达400万美元。其他球员也相继加盟，包括德国的弗朗茨·贝肯鲍尔、荷兰的约翰·克鲁伊夫和英国的鲍比·摩尔等。
“The league takes off in a very flashy way, starts getting very large viewership, not necessarily on TV, but they were selling out stadiums of 60-something thousand when Pelé shows up,” explains Sloop. But eventually the teams went bankrupt and the NASL began to fall apart. Sloop says that collapse was “somewhat heartbreaking for real international soccer fans”, who began to ask what kind of model could work in the US.
斯鲁普解释说：“这个联赛以非常引人注目的方式起步，开始获得巨大的收视率，不一定是在电视上，但当贝利出现时，他们售罄了拥有六万多座观众席的体育场。”但最终球队破产，北美足球联盟也开始瓦解。斯鲁普说，这种崩溃“对于真正的国际足球迷来说是有点令人心碎的”，这些球迷开始质疑美国到底能采用什么样的模式才能成功。
Listen to Sloop on The Conversation Weekly podcast to understand how the launch of MLS, the success of the US women’s team, and the greater availability of soccer on television, has changed views of the game in the US.
请收听《对话周刊》播客中斯鲁普的访谈，了解MLS的创立、美国女足的成功以及电视上足球可及性的提高，是如何改变了美国人对这项运动的看法。
This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware, Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Eleanor Brezzi and theme music by Neeta Sarl.
本期《对话周刊》由Gemma Ware、Katie Flood和Mend Mariwany撰写和制作。混音由Eleanor Brezzi负责，主题音乐由Neeta Sarl提供。
Newsclips in this episode from FIFA, NASL 1968-1984 Soccer History, AP Archive, TODAY and Olympics.
本期节目中的新闻片段来自国际足联、北美足球联盟1968-1984年历史、美联社档案、TODAY和奥运会。
Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here. A transcript of this episode is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps.
您可以通过上述任何应用程序收听《对话周刊》，或通过我们的RSS源直接下载，或点击此处了解其他收听方式。本期节目的文字记录可在苹果播客或Spotify应用中获取。
John M Sloop does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
John M Sloop不为任何受益于本文的公司或组织工作、咨询、持有股份或接受资金，并且除了其学术任命外，未披露任何相关关系。
