First off, a full disclosure here, we stole the headline from Forbes magazine. Of all the news headlines of the day over the move of David Beckham to the North American Major Soccer League, Forbes had the one that succinctly describes today’s major news.
The news has hit the North American sporting world like nothing else in recent sports history. The rarely covered MSL suddenly became the topic of the day on every sports radio station, every television network and most American newspapers. Their excitement level ratcheted to high, all because the one time hero of British Soccer has chosen to play out his career in the California sun.
Beckham signed on with the LA Galaxy this morning, advising his current team Real Madrid that this will be his last season in Europe. He leaves the European scene having given many of his most productive years to Manchester United, Read Madrid and the English national team.
Known mostly for his well placed free kicks, Beckham at one time defined Soccer cool while at United, between his football playing and his romance and marriage to Victoria (aka Posh Spice of Spice Girls fame) England was overcome with Beckhamania, his departure for Madrid the topic of many a pub night long after he began playing in Spain.
He moves to America and riches beyond the grasp of the common MLS players, it’s reported that with salary, endorsements, profit sharing and commercial opportunities in LA, Beckham will pull in more than 250 million dollars for booting that round little ball around North America.
The news has hit the North American sporting world like nothing else in recent sports history. The rarely covered MSL suddenly became the topic of the day on every sports radio station, every television network and most American newspapers. Their excitement level ratcheted to high, all because the one time hero of British Soccer has chosen to play out his career in the California sun.
Beckham signed on with the LA Galaxy this morning, advising his current team Real Madrid that this will be his last season in Europe. He leaves the European scene having given many of his most productive years to Manchester United, Read Madrid and the English national team.
Known mostly for his well placed free kicks, Beckham at one time defined Soccer cool while at United, between his football playing and his romance and marriage to Victoria (aka Posh Spice of Spice Girls fame) England was overcome with Beckhamania, his departure for Madrid the topic of many a pub night long after he began playing in Spain.
He moves to America and riches beyond the grasp of the common MLS players, it’s reported that with salary, endorsements, profit sharing and commercial opportunities in LA, Beckham will pull in more than 250 million dollars for booting that round little ball around North America.
It makes for a remarkable amount of money for a league with a 2.1 million dollar salary cap per team, which in some cases pays its players less than 12,000 a year. And sometimes plays to crowds less than that as well. Even the highest paid players at 900,000 a year will find that they are nowhere near the Beckham orbit in the MLS galaxy.
The news has rekindled old thoughts of when Pele announced he would join the then North American Soccer League adding some glitz and glamour to a sport that few North Americans had taken particularly seriously. Today’s announcement has more than a few suggesting (dreaming perhaps) that he is but the starting wave of European stars ready to make the move, dreams of Ronaldo, Figo and Rooney bounce around those that feel that MLS is but a short time away from the big time now.
The announcement today has been trumpeted as a turning point for MLS, which seems to be banking on his pop star aura for public relations, rather than his football skills for any actual athletic endeavors.
By strategically placing Beckham in Los Angeles (where he and his wife spend a good portion of their time anyways) MLS is expecting that their sport will eventually become the IT destination for the in crowd. Like the days of Gretzky in LA with the Kings and Shaq with the Lakers, the high profile of Beckham is expected to rub off on the lesser beings of the MLS, making everyone a star in the LA Galaxy. The Beckham’s are friends with Tom Cruise and the wife du jour, Mrs. Beckham perhaps still has dreams of reviving her entertainment career and there is no better place for second chances than Hollywood. In short they will be on the A list in California, MLS is hoping that they can share in some of the afterglow of the Beckham’s social calendar.
It’s doubtful that one man will be able to make Soccer a must see sport in American, such as the NFL, NBA, NASCAR and Major League Baseball. The main loves of the American couch potato, but he will attract attention and in the all important media spotlight he’ll do his share for his sport.
If any league is going to be concerned about his arrival, it possibly should be the NHL. They are suffering a lack of interest in their game of late that should have league owners more than a little worried, With a shiny new toy in the sporting window, the NHL may find that it’s the one relegated to the bottom of the toy box, not to be pulled out for a very long time.
All that’s left is to see if the lad still has any football left in his foot, his current tour of duty in Spain has been marked by reduced playing time, his days with the English team seemingly over, as the new manager takes the lads of Britannia in a different direction.
So in the end, that’s exactly what Beckham has done, he’s gone in a very different direction, he’ll end up just fine, much richer, working in a no pressure environment and keeping the family happy in a place they’ve come to consider a second home.
The last time that North American soccer opened up the wallets and started spending the stupid money, the league up eventually ended up out of business. While it’s a safe bet that Mr. Beckham’s money is safe and secured, for the rest of the players and teams all that has to happen is that the league can survive until the end of his contract.
His signing has been the thing of sporting headlines; an avalanche of attention that has dominated the day’s sports agenda, here’s a sample:
The news has rekindled old thoughts of when Pele announced he would join the then North American Soccer League adding some glitz and glamour to a sport that few North Americans had taken particularly seriously. Today’s announcement has more than a few suggesting (dreaming perhaps) that he is but the starting wave of European stars ready to make the move, dreams of Ronaldo, Figo and Rooney bounce around those that feel that MLS is but a short time away from the big time now.
The announcement today has been trumpeted as a turning point for MLS, which seems to be banking on his pop star aura for public relations, rather than his football skills for any actual athletic endeavors.
By strategically placing Beckham in Los Angeles (where he and his wife spend a good portion of their time anyways) MLS is expecting that their sport will eventually become the IT destination for the in crowd. Like the days of Gretzky in LA with the Kings and Shaq with the Lakers, the high profile of Beckham is expected to rub off on the lesser beings of the MLS, making everyone a star in the LA Galaxy. The Beckham’s are friends with Tom Cruise and the wife du jour, Mrs. Beckham perhaps still has dreams of reviving her entertainment career and there is no better place for second chances than Hollywood. In short they will be on the A list in California, MLS is hoping that they can share in some of the afterglow of the Beckham’s social calendar.
It’s doubtful that one man will be able to make Soccer a must see sport in American, such as the NFL, NBA, NASCAR and Major League Baseball. The main loves of the American couch potato, but he will attract attention and in the all important media spotlight he’ll do his share for his sport.
If any league is going to be concerned about his arrival, it possibly should be the NHL. They are suffering a lack of interest in their game of late that should have league owners more than a little worried, With a shiny new toy in the sporting window, the NHL may find that it’s the one relegated to the bottom of the toy box, not to be pulled out for a very long time.
All that’s left is to see if the lad still has any football left in his foot, his current tour of duty in Spain has been marked by reduced playing time, his days with the English team seemingly over, as the new manager takes the lads of Britannia in a different direction.
So in the end, that’s exactly what Beckham has done, he’s gone in a very different direction, he’ll end up just fine, much richer, working in a no pressure environment and keeping the family happy in a place they’ve come to consider a second home.
The last time that North American soccer opened up the wallets and started spending the stupid money, the league up eventually ended up out of business. While it’s a safe bet that Mr. Beckham’s money is safe and secured, for the rest of the players and teams all that has to happen is that the league can survive until the end of his contract.
His signing has been the thing of sporting headlines; an avalanche of attention that has dominated the day’s sports agenda, here’s a sample:
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