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The joke, of course, is that soccer is said to be the sport of the future in America and always will be. Now, it seems, America is the future of soccer and will be for some time to come.

The idea of bringing EPL games to the States is one that makes sense, as the globalization of all professional sports continues. If some stuffy heads in the EPL or FIFA prevent this from happening, they should know that it will happen in the future, and the future is now.

This is reverse implementation of the National Football League sending league games to England and other parts of the world, as the NFL tries to introduce the rest of the planet to the joys of touchdowns, field goals and interceptions. But, while the NFL remains a bit of an oddity to the rest of the world, the EPL would find a huge and knowledgable fan base of support in the States, ready to treat the games with the respect, and nearly the fervor, they receive at home.

A better comparison perhaps would be the baseball games being played in Japan by Major League Baseball teams. Just as the EPL has a willing fan base in the States, so to does Major League Baseball has a ravenous fan base in Japan.

But sending EPL games to the States is not about the sport itself, or the games. It is about business, as the EPL looks to expand its footprint on the international sports marketing world, beyond its already enormous reach.

Certainly, games played in the States will be hard-pressed to equal in terms of revenue an identical game played at a home venue in England. While all the games likely will be sold out, I'm not certain there will be the same resale market for tickets as exists in the home country. After all, there will be no home team fan base present to hike ticket prices and secondary ticket sales demands.

That's why the original suggestion is to make games played in the States as a 39th game, rather than a merely relocated game in the usual 38-game schedule. For which teams wish to lose a home date, and home field advantage, in the incredibly competitive EPL? This is true at both ends of the table, where home field can mean a title, or loss of home field can mean a trip to the lower division.

I hope wiser heads will prevail in England, and in FIFA offices, allowing these games to take place. I have attended exhibition matches for EPL teams played in the United States and know the interest that exists for EPL teams here. The opportunity to see an actual in-season game in the United States? Priceless.

Well, O.K. not exactly priceless. There will be a price tag, and it will be an expensive one, and Americans will pay it. They will buy the kits, and the scarves, and the balls, and the hats, and they will make EPL officials slap their foreheads wondering why they didn't do this years ago.

This is, in fact, the perfect timing. Professional soccer in the United States is reaching a level of near-acceptance in the main stream. Cities with NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball teams are falling over themselves to get into Major League Soccer, which 10 years ago was holding on for dear life. The game, at the professional level, is catching on. It is a young fire, with little flames licking for a bite of oxygen, and there are people and communities waiting to provide more fuel to the fire.

I promise you, whatever reaction EPL officials expect to receive in the States when they bring in-season games to the colonies, the actual response will be far greater. We love our imports over here; we love all things British except for taxation with representation.

Come on. Quit the tease. Let's get it on.

Learn more about this author, Kent Mcdill.
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