How superstar players like Pele and George Best made America fall in love with soccer in the 1970s, as an entertaining new game emerged.
The 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany sparked an unlikely soccer revolution in the USA. By the mid-1970s, the North American Soccer League had grown to more than 20 teams, but soccer still struggled for attention in a country dominated by baseball and American football. The NASL needed star power, so the New York Cosmos signed Pelé on what was then the biggest contract in sporting history.
At the same time, after falling out with Manchester United, George Best saw the USA as a chance to reinvent himself and the game. In a never-before-seen 2001 interview, Best describes the league as a fresh start after signing for Elton John’s Los Angeles Aztecs in 1976.
The dull presentation of football was also turned on its head by typical American razzmatazz with fireworks, cheerleaders and mascots. While English football in the 1970s was associated with crumbling stadiums, hooliganism and a grim atmosphere, America was reshaping football culture with tailgating, all-seater stadiums and family-friendly crowds.
By the late 1970s, soccer was booming in the USA. Packed stadiums and celebrity signings like Pele and Best helped transform the game into an entertainment spectacle. Riding that wave, the NASL boldly predicted global dominance by 1985, but sadly it was not to be.
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