Mexico's national team has played 45 matches on U.S. soil since the start of '14GETTY IMAGES
The Mexican national soccer team has the "biggest and most passionate soccer fan base" in the U.S., and the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) is trying to grow that even larger "with the World Cup approaching, and with the American market, for the first time in 32 years, more or less to itself" due to the absence of the U.S., according to Henry Bushnell of YAHOO SPORTS. The FMF in February "launched English-language Twitter and Facebook accounts that have been active and growing ever since." The federation's tour of the U.S. "has an English website, online shop and hashtags," as well as 15 sponsors, which "includes some of the largest American brands." FMF General Secretary Guillermo Cantu said the organization is "progressing into becoming a bilingual product." Cantu: "We're not only speaking to the Spanish-speaking fan, but the Mexican national team fan that is not necessarily Mexican-born. That is part of our target." Bushnell noted there are more than 36 million Mexican Americans "living in the U.S.," and ratings for Mexico matches on domestic TV "often double and triple those for U.S. national team games." Mexico has played 45 matches "on U.S. soil since the start of 2014, compared to just 14 back home," and the average attendance for games in this county has exceeded 55,000 (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/7). SI's Brian Straus notes the Mexican national team "may be the most broadly popular sports outfit in the States." The pride Mexican fans feel is "real and undying," meaning supporters "show up time and again in the U.S., in some cities you would expect and others -- Charlotte, Nashville, Seattle -- you might not." That connection is "only deepening this spring as their team prepares for a World Cup that its main rivals will miss" (SI, 6/4 issue).
