Promoter Wrestling With His Personal Goal: Making Americans Soccer Fans

Promoter Wrestling With His Personal Goal: Making Americans Soccer Fans



DES MOINES, Iowa (Wireless Flash) – A sports promoter in Des Moines, Iowa, is wrestling with his personal goal: making Americans like soccer. His solution is to make the sport more like professional wrestling than pro football. Terry Rich is the commissioner of the World Championship Soccer League, a four-team indoor soccer league that allows full contact and has the showbiz elements of pro wrestling. For instance, when Miami Storm star Eduardo Alvarez isn’t scoring goals, he’s throwing voodoo curses, and the defense of the Los Angeles Surf will use any trick to win – even itching powder. Rich freely admits his version of soccer offends purists but he figures his innovations eliminate the No. 1 complaint Americans have about TV soccer: “It sucks.” The World Championship Soccer League makes its U.S. debut Saturday (Apr. 13) on the Galavision cable channel and, if successful, may become a regular series.

Thu 04-11-02