Brady Street's Nomad World Pub is a teenager now and has been a haven for Milwaukee soccer fans since the day it opened. It's since been joined by Bay View's Highbury Pub, St. Francis' Carleton Grange and other venues where footie fans can pull up a bar stool and watch the action unfold.

And it seems that even on free TV there's more soccer than ever, with Channel 7 showing English football games, TV Azteca (Channel 38) and Telemundo (Channel 63) broadcasting games from around the globe but with special emphasis on Latin American leagues.

"There is no doubt that Highbury and Nomad have made it easier for people without access to televised futbol to hook up with others in the community," enthuses Mike Eitel, who owns the Nomad, as well as other area restaurants and taverns. "Like any televised sport, its always more fun to be around others who share a passion for the game so these cable channels -- and our bars -- provide the combination necessary to continue building that community."

Despite Eitel's enthusiasm and that of other fans of the beautiful game, soccer appears to have stagnated in Milwaukee, at least on a professional level. A bid for an MLS team is dead in the water and while a visit to a Wave game is enough to witness the enthusiasm of the team's fans, attendance has, according to the team, hovered around 5,000 per game since 2004-05.

So, are these bars and broadcasts making a difference? Milwaukee Wave Chief Operating Officer Mike Lafferty says yes, but offers a caution.

"Certainly they do," he says. "We're living in a global village now, thanks in large part to cable and satellite dishes. All those things help grow the game, just a little bit at a time. It's not a tidal wave."

And says Marquette alum Peter Wilt, one of the forces behind the bid to bring Major League Soccer -- and build a stadium for it -- believes that the popularity of soccer bars and broadcasts and the rise in popularity of the game are intertwined.

"The rise of soccer bars in Milwaukee are both a cause and a byproduct of the increase of soccer's popularity in the area," says Wilt, who is president and CEO of Chicago Pro Women's Soccer, which kicks off in spring 2009.

"The atmosphere of a pub packed with passionate soccer fans creates more soccer fans. The relative ease of watching high level soccer on television compared to a decade ago allows people who played the sport as kids to continue their interest as spectators as they grow up."

A recently New York Times article noted that more than 600,000 high school boys and girls play soccer in the United States. Last year US Youth Soccer launched its National League, with the top 16 teams from its Regional Leagues competing from September until April. The inaugural season wraps up soon.

"Popularity of this game is increasing on a variety of levels," says Lafferty. "Youth soccer continues to grow, and we look forward to giving it a tremendous boost beginning in 2009 with the Milwaukee Wave Premier Training Academy, which is in the works in Cudahy. The exposure of the Wave and the MISL is increasing with our television deals, locally on Time Warner Cable and nationally on Fox Soccer Channel. The opportunities ... to watch leagues from all over the world can do nothing but help interest in and understanding of the game -- two elements which go hand in hand."

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Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by wiscoleeds on April 8, 2008 at 8:05 a.m. (report)

I'm glad the Wave have their "fan" base...but it's not real soccer and there is no interest from real adult soccer fans. Let's see I can go to the pub, watch and discuss the WC, Euro's, Premier League, Champions League, etc...but NO ONE goes to any of these pub for Wave watching parties or to discuss the indoor game. Heck, I doubt anyone can name a player or more than one franchise. The MISL is made up of players that can't cut it in the outdoor leagues. Cheers Wiscoleeds

Posted by JKrunken on April 7, 2008 at 10:01 p.m. (report)

May I suggest to all the bartenders of these Fussball bars that attempt to come off like they are authentic... when I order that German beer with the correct German pronounciation, don't look like the untravelled American that you are. I have yet to have one bartender in Milwaukee know what I am talking about if I order a Warsteiner and pronounce it properly. I mean, the rest of the world can pronouce Coca Cola. Can't we make a little effort here? If you are going to sell the beer AND work at the Fussball bar, learn a bit of German... even it is just the names of the beers. I'm mean at least meet me half way and don't look like a fool when someone says Weiss and pronounces it "Vise". Or have we fallen so far in America that correct pronounciation is considered pretentious? No one is putting on aires if they actually are German, ordering a German beer in a supposed German bar in what once was the city with the highest population of Germans in America. If we can embrace the Bronze Fonz, then can't we embrace our German heritage in Milwaukee and make a little effort here? Now if we can just get all Milwaukeeans in Dirndls and Lederhosen, we might have something!

Posted by highland86 on April 7, 2008 at 9:32 p.m. (report)

Wiscoleeds: And if it weren't for corporate ticket sales, most Bucks games would be played to the sound of crickets. Everyone has their fan base.

Posted by Soccer fan on April 7, 2008 at 2:26 p.m. (report)

Maybe you can't read very well Z Babe. It says right in the piece you quoted "major league" soccer fans. Most Milwaukee soccer fans couldn't care less about a league that offers them no team to support. Ask at the "yuppie" places you mentioned and you'll find lots of fans of non-U.S. leagues. Watch the games on the Spanish stations here and you'll see NO MLS games. I notice you've decided to ignore the question about why you seem to think Latinos can't be yuppies. And why because according to you, black Americans don't like soccer and that automatically means only yuppie whites do.

Posted by CarolV on April 7, 2008 at 1:46 p.m. (report)

The comments about the kids playing soccer in this article ring very true in our family now and in the previous generation. My 2 year old daughter has been kicking a soccer ball since she could walk. My 9 y.o. can't play in all the teams that want him to in Bay View--MPS Fernwood school, rec league, parochial league and he has chosen to play for the SE Kickers outdoor and indoor with a trek weekly to Uihlein (which is a trek from BV). He is also always watching soccer on TV with the Barclay league, the ethnic games and MISL. We've been to a few Wave games this season too. Soccer is alive and well with the kids--no question. Stefan's Soccer shop has multiple locations in the 'burbs but also the original Lincoln Ave store is hopping with sales (we prefer the Lincoln store) on the near southside. My dad started soccer programs at BVHS for girls and boys in the late 70's on the JV and Varsity level that still exist--and although they may not be as good as suburban teams, there is still a love for soccer. All the ethnic club teams have been rocking for decades in this city.