\u201cI\u2019m not a soccer guy,\u201d said Bob by way of an ice-breaker.<\/p>\n
He was smiling when he said it, but before I had a chance to reply, he went on to say something not even the most laissez-faire of editors would let me repeat here.<\/p>\n
The gist, however, was that he used to think soccer was played by the worst people he could imagine but now he had seen a few World Cup games on TV, he had changed his mind. A bit. He now thought soccer was played by people who were too scared to play hockey or \u201creal\u201d football.<\/p>\n
Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic app<\/a><\/p>\n I sensed this was as far as Bob was willing to go on soccer.<\/p>\n As he started to sway and the bar filled up with Phillies fans, none of whom seemed interested in the fact that Elijah Just had scored a lovely goal to put New Zealand<\/a> 2-1 up against Iran, my mind went back to Bob\u2019s opening salvo.<\/p>\n Does he speak for many here? Is Philly not a soccer town? If so, what will it take to change that? Is it even possible?<\/p>\n I liked Bob, but I was not sure he was his city\u2019s best spokesperson, so I went to canvass more opinions \u2014 at Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Phillies.<\/p>\n My not-very-scientific rationale for picking \u201cThe Bank\u201d? I knew how to get there.<\/p>\n \n The Philadelphia Phillies were hosting the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies won 8-2 (Hunter Martin\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Getting a ticket was, as FIFA president Gianni Infantino has tried to explain<\/a>, very easy in the land of the free and the home of the unregulated resale market. I was looking for a decent seat behind first or third base, about halfway up, and eventually opted for a $64 seat.<\/p>\n Within two minutes of arriving at the ballpark, I had been given a free scarf and what us Brits would call an iced bun. It came in a see-through packet, which the sweet topping stuck to, but was quite nice. The point is, the Phillies were giving me things for nothing.<\/p>\n My seat was also something of a surprise. It was way more upmarket than I expected, or needed, in a section of the stadium called the Hall of Fame Club. The concourse was like the food court of an upscale shopping mall, with air conditioning, lots of tables, fancy restrooms, a merch boutique and a screen showing Phillies\u2019 highlights from yesteryear.<\/p>\n Before this gets used as another example of a European being in awe of the magnificence of an American sports stadium, it\u2019s OK. We have fancy seats and sections in our stadiums, too; they just usually cost more than $64.<\/p>\n But what I may or may not have paid for my seat is not the only way the Phillies planned to extract money from my bank account. A \u201cbistro\u201d was selling cheesesteaks for $19.99, sushi for $22.99 and crabcake sandwiches for $24.99. A local craft beer set me back $17 and I nearly bought a retro shirt for $65 before I remembered why I had come.<\/p>\n So, what did I discover? After about two hours\u2019 worth of conversations, with maybe a 100 different people, there was a clear consensus: Bob does not speak for Philly.<\/p>\n \n Matt Slater spent his evening at Citizens Bank Park (Matt Slater\/The Athletic)<\/p>\n \u201cNobody hates soccer,\u201d said Joe, in the line for a cheesesteak.\u00a0\u201cWe just don\u2019t know it very well. I don\u2019t know anything about cricket, either, and I don\u2019t hate that.\u201d<\/p>\n Fair enough, and nice of him to tacitly acknowledge that baseball is a version of our more sophisticated ball-and-stick game.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about culture,\u201d said Chad, Joe\u2019s pal. \u201cWe have our football, you have yours. Our football is a big part of our culture, in the same way yours is. But soccer is cool and this World Cup will definitely help it get bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n I found Andre, Christine, Laura and Ray stuck behind dinner options in the Hall of Fame Club.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you\u2019ll find is Philly is a football town,\u201d said Ray. \u201cWe love the Eagles, it\u2019s just ingrained. But who told you nobody likes soccer here?\u201d<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t want to throw Bob under the bus, so I lied and said I read it on X.<\/p>\n It was at that point that the group\u2019s friend, Jane, joined and announced she and her husband had decided, as you do, to spend $5,000 on two second-row seats to see the USA beat Paraguay 4-1 at the SoFi<\/a> when in Los Angeles for a wedding.<\/p>\n Deciding that Jane was clearly in league with FIFA and had been sent to the stadium to skew the results of my survey, I made my excuses and looked for more diners.<\/p>\n Anish, Dwayne, Jim and Rob were finishing their crab fries when I asked them how much they would pay to watch a World Cup game at Lincoln Financial Field,<\/a> or \u2018The Linc\u2019 as everyone in Philly calls it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d pay $2,000 to see the U.S. play here,\u201d said Rob.<\/p>\n \u201cHe doesn\u2019t really have a budget,\u201d retorted one of his friends.<\/p>\n But where does soccer fit in the pecking order? Do any of these fans watch the city\u2019s MLS team, Philadelphia Union?<\/p>\n \u201cHmmm, it\u2019s the Eagles here, out on their own, and then whichever of the other three (76ers, Flyers or Phillies) that is doing best, and then Union. Sorry,\u201d said Jim.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve had their moments\u2026 they were good last year, I believe, but they lost in the play-offs and their stadium isn\u2019t in the best part of town.\u201d<\/p>\n Variations of this comment came up a number of times. Philadelphia Union\u2019s home is on the banks of the Delaware River in Chester, 20 miles from central Philly. Opened in 2010, it has a capacity of 18,500 and it sells out most games, so somebody is going; they were just not among those I spoke to at the Phillies game.<\/p>\n \u201cSoccer\u2019s problem is there\u2019s so much choice,\u201d continued Jim.<\/p>\n \u201cLook around you. Baseball isn\u2019t as big as it was when I was a kid but there\u2019s what, 40,000 here? And they play 162 games a year. The Sixers and Flyers play 80 games each. So there\u2019s a huge time-investment issue.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard for soccer\u2026 but it is changing. It has already changed a lot and now we\u2019ve got the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n By the way, Jim\u2019s Philly sports pecking order of Eagles first, then a three-way tie, and then the Union, was almost unanimous, but almost everyone made the same point that soccer was coming on strong.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a soccer guy but I will always root for my country in anything,\u201d said Chad, who was enjoying a beer while critiquing the Marlins\u2019 bullpen.<\/p>\n \u201cI love seeing all the fans from other countries here, too. That\u2019s great. I\u2019m not one of those guys who thinks we\u2019re the best at everything and our way is the only way. But I do think it\u2019s totally fine to be proud of what we do and I think we\u2019re doing a great job with FIFA.\u201d<\/p>\n That was another thing that came up several times: people calling the tournament FIFA.<\/p>\n \n Brazil fans gather at the Philadelphia Museum of Art before their World Cup match against Haiti (Isaiah Vazquez\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Chilling under the giant, mechanical Liberty Bell that lights up and swings whenever the Phillies hit a home run, was\u00a0Marsellus. \u201cI\u2019m not against (soccer),\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been watching and I\u2019m starting to get it. It\u2019s like hockey, right?<\/p>\n \u201cI love the fans. Are you Scottish?<\/a> Man, they\u2019re crazy. I love them. And who are the guys in orange<\/a> who go side to side? I love all that tomfoolery.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have that in college football but I like how you guys just do it all the time and wherever you are. I don\u2019t think we drink as much, though.\u201d<\/p>\n No, you will never take that away from us.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a big fan,\u201d said Roger. \u201cI\u2019ve got family from Trinidad, so I\u2019ve always known the game. I\u2019d love to go but the prices\u2026 I\u2019ve been looking at the resale sites and will go for it if the prices drop to maybe $300. I\u2019ve been looking at that Ivory Coast-Curacao game.\u201d<\/p>\n Roger was far from alone in expressing this frustration. And his budget was far more typical than the wealthier denizens of the Hall of Fame Club.<\/p>\n I have doggedly continued my research in bars across South Philly, downtown restaurants and Ubers, and Bob is the exception, not the rule.<\/p>\n Philly is a traditional U.S. sports town that loves its NFL team. Understandably so, right? They are pretty good.<\/p>\n But it has thrown itself into the role of being a good World Cup host. The city\u2019s official fan fest is in a beautiful park and 55,000 people crammed in there on Friday to watch the USA beat Australia. No other host city\u2019s fan fest has beaten 35,000, yet and Philly\u2019s has done it three times.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2281365516-scaled.jpg\")
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