Soccer in the U.S.

David Beckham is coming to the United States. He'll be playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Obviously, he's being brought to the U.S. to try to generate some interest in professional soccer. How many people have heard of the Los Angeles Galaxy? How many people can name one American professional soccer team?
Why has soccer not caught on in the United States? Americans do like their professional team sports. There's baseball, basketball, football. And hockey has caught on so well that American cities keep stealing teams from Canadian cities. Baseball, basketball and football were all invented in the U.S.. It seems that Americans like sports that they create. Conversely, American sports aren't so popular in other parts of the world. Baseball, baseketball, and soccer have not caught on so well around the rest of the world as soccer.

So, why has soccer lagged behind in popularity here? We like sports on fields, and that use a ball. Plus, soccer is one of the most popular sports for kids. Tons of children play soccer every year! There doesn't seem to be a reason why soccer would not draw crowds. Maybe it's market forces: there's only room for 4 major spectator-team sports in the U.S..