Oddly with this topic, soccer and football both use the imperial system. So despite the UK using Kilos, meters, cm, mm (also common in science anyway) we stil have a 25 yard box in soccer. I am involved in amercan football so use yards anyway.
We still use Miles for distance
I think both can co-exist, you just use which ever is most appropriate and make sure everyone is on the same page, esp in science. Glassware in chemistry is measured in metric anyway and I would assume this is the same in the US too.