Portland may claim to be Soccer City USA, but that title was given to San Jose in a study performed by The Oregonian on Thursday.
The rankings released Thursday afternoon had San Jose on top ahead of Washington D.C., Portland, Los Angeles and Seattle. The Oregonian took into account a wide range of factors including youth and adult league participation, attendance figures, performance and tournaments hosted.
"This distinction comes as no surprise to our organization," said Earthquakes President David Kaval. "San Jose has a burning passion for soccer that is evident by the hundreds of thousands of children, teens and adults who play the game."
San Jose picked up points for home attendance both in MLS and in NASL (adjusted for local population), producing a player on the last U.S. women's World Cup team and for winning men's and women's Division-I college soccer titles. Another positive on the score sheet was the Earthquakes Corporate Cup. The tournament saw teams from Yahoo!, Cadence, Vocera and Zynga and has already garnered significant interest in 2011.
Cities like Portland and Seattle may pick up their share of attention as soccer havens, but score this round for the San Jose soccer faithful. Even better: the best is yet to come. With a new stadium on the horizon in San Jose, the new Soccer City USA has a lot to look forward to.
To read the article by Rachel Bachman, click here.
The Oregonian's Top 10 List:
No. 1 San Jose
No. 2 Washington D.C.
No. 3 Portland
No. 4 Los Angeles
No. 5 Seattle
No. 6 New York
No. 7 Philadelphia
No. 8 Salt Lake City
No. 9 Columbus
No. 10 Houston.
