Sunday, March 30, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
TO FULFILL NCAA gender-equity requirements, UNLV will add a women's sport in the fall of 1998 and the apparent winner is soccer. Women's golf was the other contender.
That's another small victory for the sport of soccer, which has been on a slow but steady growth pattern in the United States for at least two decades.
Actually, there's an unprecedented interest in soccer these days, with the professional Major League Soccer league opening its second season this weekend and with the U.S. National Team in the midst of regional qualifying for the 1998 World Cup in France.
Add in soccer's emergence at the grass-roots level, as well as its international appeal, and those who love the sport are enamored with its progress.
Of course, there are and always will be people who find soccer dull and mindless. It's those people who see the glass as half empty.
Barry Barto sees it as half full.
"Soccer is exploding with leaps and bounds," said the head coach of the UNLV men's program. "Especially for youth and women, it's getting bigger and bigger. There's a lot going on."
With UNLV adding a women's team in 18 months, soccer will increase its local visibility and appeal.
"There are a few things that still need to be approved, but formal action is beginning to be taken," said UNLV Associate Athletic Director David Chambers, when asked if the official announcement of the formation of a women's program was imminent. "I'd say we're moving in that direction."
Barto, UNLV's coach since 1982, is cautiously ecstatic.
"I thought we were going to add women's soccer in 1985," he said. "I was working on scheduling officials and everything, then the NCAA changed its requirements and the school dropped the idea."
Now he's working in the background again in preparation for a women's program that will join the Western Athletic Conference in 1998. Soccer aficionados will like this one: Barto will schedule home doubleheaders that feature one game with the UNLV men's team and one game with the UNLV women's team.
By then, soccer is apt to force its way to the front of the sports pages.
It's already making inroads at the national level. Here's why: 18 million Americans play soccer; youth soccer membership has escalated at the rate of 10 percent yearly; starting today and running through Sept. 28, the 10-team Major League Soccer league has 50 games scheduled to be televised by cable networks ESPN and Univision; MLS predicts a 15 percent increase in attendance over last season's league-wide average of 17,416 per game; pro soccer stars like Eric Wynalda (of San Jose) and Jorge Campos (of Los Angeles) have signed major endorsement deals (with Reebok and Pepsi, respectively), with Nike contributing $100 million of its advertising budget toward soccer; and the U.S. National Team, 1-1-1 in regional play, has an upcoming game with Mexico (April 20 in Foxboro, Mass.) that figures to draw incredible interest.
"Soccer can ride the train for a long, long time if we have success at the national level," Barto said of the U.S. National Team, which is one of 175 national teams attempting to qualify for the 24-team World Cup. "For anyone who can play soccer, being on the National Team is bigger than playing professionally."
But it's pro soccer that really gets the microscopic treatment when fans and nonfans are evaluating the sport. Until pro soccer succeeds in the United States, it always will be relegated to a "lesser" status.
"I'm kind of reserving judgment about MLS," Barto said. "There are glitches in their system and there have been a lot of casualties along the way."
He said MLS players are underpaid and perhaps under-represented. (The MLS Players Association is actually a branch of the National Football League Players Association.)
He's also less than thrilled with MLS initiating what it calls its "Project 40," a program that will take many of the country's top high-school players and place them into something of a developmental, or minor, league. That, of course, will only deplete the pool of players collegiate teams like UNLV will be able to draw from to compile their rosters.
"Candidly, collegiate soccer might very well be leveling off," Barto said. "So, maybe we lose a few superstars. What we have to do is make sure we get the players at the next (lower) level."
At least there will be scores to choose from, as soccer apparently is being played on every available field in the valley.
"I always hear the question, 'Why doesn't soccer make it?'" Barto said. "But I think it's all relative. Youth leagues can't find enough space to play, so I'd call that successful in the sense kids want to play.
"We just had some folks from the Inner-City Games in here and they informed me soccer is clearly, clearly their highest registered group. So I'd call that successful.
"Many of the high schools in town have excellent programs, and girls soccer here looks pretty good. So that's successful.
"To me, soccer has its place. It's deeply rooted, and it's not going to go away."
Truth is, with UNLV adding a women's team, with MLS reaching a certain acceptance and with World Cup qualifying providing nail-biting TV, soccer might yet flourish even in a city and country awash in football, basketball and baseball.
archive
