Soccer ('football' outside the US) has a variety of crippling flaws as a commercial enterprise in the US:
1. Little violence or injury (cf Hockey, US Football)
2. No breaks for commercials on TV (cf Baseball, US Football)
3. Modest equipment sales opportunities (cf Skiing, sailing)
and
4. Not enough scoring (cf Basketball).
Number 4. is actually a defect of the game worldwide, and for amateurs: because scores are so rare, the correlation between a team's performance and its likelihood of winning the game is too low, and relative scores say little about relative performance in any particular game. What would it take to add, say, a meter in width and maybe 20 cm to the height of the goal to rectify this? Sigh...it's a little like the Star Spangled Banner, whose range is obviously too great for almost anyone to actually sing it, but whose "installed base" both literal and psychological is so daunting.
On the other hand, Sweden changed from driving on the left to driving on the right with little upset, so maybe it's possible.
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My view of how to increase the number of goals would be to eliminate the offsides rule. A simple change that would make the game more interesting.
I think decreasing the number of players will get the job done. There will be more chances for players running with the ball to actually get somewhere on the field. As for the lack of violence in the game (compared to hockey, American football) - I think that the violence of the fans is a good substitute.
I like soccer like it is.
Having the offside rule brings some tactical rules. 50 years ago, the teams were scoring 20 goals per game, but they always had 2 or 3 attackers waiting standing next to the goal to get the ball.With the offside rule, the players are much more moving around the field.
I have an idea similar to Barry's that would have the desired effect. How about simply allowing unlimited substitutions, like they do in hockey or volleyball? If players don't need to husbnd their energy, knowing that they will most likely be playing the entire game, I bet they would be more aggressive in creating scoring opportunities. Of course defense would be more energetic as well, so it might be a wash, but I would like to see it tried. One could also say that only offensive positions could be substituted freely, but that seems very un-sportsmanlike!
I don't know how I missed this idea a while ago but anyway.Commercial enterprise.... Err ok. I though it was a sport but I guess everything is commercialised now.Little violence or injury a flaw. Hmmm...ok.No breaks for commercials. Oh dear, how sad. Good! It means I can watch football for each half without ads being rammed down my neck.Modest equipment sales opportunities. So, it's a cheap game then. Good. Kids can play with very little monetary outlay. Good. I'm glad its cheap then.Not enough scoring. So that means the more scoring a game has the better it is. Have you ever watched a game of cricket? God its dull. Less is sometimes better. Each goal brings mass excitement, whereas yet another hoop being dunked in basketball is a mild yippee. The only point I agree with you on is the size of the goal. The size was set many years ago and players are larger nowadays. Also kids play in goals that are too big. Goals should be proportionate to the players.
Another approach would be to adopt a rule used in lacrosse, that some players are restricted from crossing the midfield line so that offensive and defensive specialists would be forced to stay at their end of the field.
The game is low-scoring because it is so difficult to control a ball precisely with the feet. Soccer at the highest levels emphasizes defense, a necessity when so few goals are scored. Defenders tend to cluster in front of their goalie to stymie attackers.
By allowing only 7 or 8 players in the defensive zone, the offense could be more wide open and produce more scoring. Also, less exhausted attackers might be more dynamic in their play late in the game.