Soccer fandom in the United States has increased substantially since our hosting of the World Cup in 1994 — manifested by participation, spectatorship and viewership, accompanied by a significant increase in corporate investment (U.S. Soccer reported having more than $1.3 billion in contracted revenue). In fact, according to some sources, soccer has surpassed baseball as the No. 3 sport in the U.S. (Note: I’m not quite ready to go there, and as a fan I’m appreciative of the efforts of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, et al, to broaden the appeal of baseball — but if there is a lockout, I firmly believe that soccer will be entrenched in that No. 3 spot.)

Regardless of the ranking perception in the U.S., the real issue is how U.S. soccer is perceived in terms of global perception and performance. Will we be consistently competitive? Americans are extremely competitive in their sports passions, and if our athletes are not performing successfully at the highest levels, we tend to lose interest.

So what will it take for U.S soccer to become competitive globally and sustain that ability? Our U.S. men’s national team has not experienced the level of success of our women’s team. Here are the thoughts of a non-soccer fan who nevertheless appreciates the business opportunity and embraces global competition in all sports — true WORLD championships.

While college football and basketball have proved to be more........

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