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Another football on the block: FIFA Soccer drives popularity in the US

by: Nathaniel -
More On: FIFA 15

I'm a bad American.  I like what the rest of the world calls football more than what we call football here in the United States.  It was the '94 World Cup that made me a fan of the sport, but for many Americans, it's EA Sports's FIFA franchise that is slowing turning America into a soccer-loving nation.  

EA Sports has released some data on the matter.  Rich Luker of Luker on Trends conducted an ESPN Sports Poll that shows, for the first time, a statistically positive correlation between American soccer fandom and FIFA Soccer.

Other datamazing facts:

-34% of gamers who played FIFA Soccer became pro soccer fans afterwards.

-50% of gamers who played FIFA Soccer became more interested in pro soccer

-95% of American gamers who play soccer videogames, play EA Sports FIFA

-The US ranked number 2 in FIFA 14 sales

-American gamers using MLS clubs increased 112% between FIFA 14 and FIFA 15

-Finally, in a year Americans played 293 million FIFA Soccer matches; they spent 3.1 billion minutes playing the game (I'm probably responsible for several hundred million of those minutes); and 637 million goals were scored.