Fútbol, not Football

Buzz summer interns Alex Daily, Sarah Jane Knowlton, and Maddie Tebbe fuel up on coffee before interviewing Houstonians about the World Cup.

Editor’s note: “An Intern’s Insight” is a recurring blog by our summer interns. This unedited content is strictly the opinion of the writers, and not necessarily of The Buzz. In this blog post, our interns reflect on their experience asking Houstonians their thoughts on the World Cup. 

When we went out into the Buzz neighborhoods to ask people what they truly thought about the World Cup, we found that only a certain demographic really cared about what some call “the universal language.”

We interviewed a range of ages, from early teens to early 50s, and discovered that people in the late teens and early 20s were most likely to answer that they followed the World Cup, watched games, and would continue to watch even if the United States was disqualified.

So, we found ourselves asking, why should we care about soccer? The answer is pretty obvious: the rest of the world does. Knowing even a minute amount about the sport can almost guarantee a new friend in any foreign country, the way striking up a conversation about basic stats for a local baseball or football team in any American city does. People are always excited to talk about their favorite sports team and players, and now that our own team is advancing further, watching FIFA can be both a fun and patriotic event.

Based on our survey, four out of the fifteen people keeping up with the World Cup do so using phone apps. If, like them, you don’t have the time or the interest to watch the whole game, there are several apps that can give you important game updates. Two of them that our own interns use are “FIFA Official App” and “World Cup,” which are both free and easy to use.

If you want to watch the games surrounded by friends in a great atmosphere, check out our Dining Guide on sports bars to see which one is right for you.

With a new and fast growing fan base in the U.S. and as country with a team in the World Cup, it can never hurt to know what’s going on in the soccer world.

Where do you watch World Cup games? Who do you want to win? Comment below about your World Cup experiences so far!

Some Additional Stats

• Total People Surveyed:  21
• Locations of People Being Surveyed: Whole Foods, Island Grille, Academy (Memorial), River Oaks Donuts
• People Continued to be Surveyed After Asked Initial Question (Do you keep up with the World Cup?): 15
• 71% of people surveyed keep up with the World Cup, but only 4% watch soccer when the World Cup is not going on.