Why Americans Don't Like Watching Soccer

It's the same reason they aren't crazy about hockey. It has to do with the 'Action versus Scoring' ratio. That is, for some reason, Americans like sports where the amount of 'action' and the amount of 'scoring' are similiar.

For example, baseball has low scoring and very little action.

Basketball has high scoring and lots of action.

And most interestingly, football is somewhere in the middle. It has a moderate amount of action and a moderate amount scoring. I think this last fact really proves my point. It's no coincidence that football, the most popular sport in America, also happens to have the most balanced scoring verus action ratio.

Hockey and soccer, on the other hand, have a lot of action and very little scoring. And for some reason, the American psyche and character doesn't have the patience to watch a couple hours of a particular sport to see a final score of 1-0. Unless of course, it's baseball, where there is a lot of down time and the viewer can gauge when to pay attention and when not to.
 
Obviously, there are other factors. Some say it's because we're not exposed to it enough or that we didn't grow up playing it. But Americans have had plenty of time to embrace soccer. Millions have been spent in the attempt to get fans interested in local teams. It's been going on for decades. And we have a generation of adults who grew up playing it. But how many Americans have actually played football? Not many. I never did.

And yes, there are A LOT of people who enjoy watching soccer and I'm glad they like it. But the numbers pale compared to the NFL, MLB and NBA.

As to why it is so popular elsewhere in the world is a whole other discussion.