[quote]AZMojo wrote:
Bauer97 wrote:
Mufasa,
I think your lack of knowledge of Beckham is a perfect example why it’s ridiculous for an American soccer team to pay him that much to bring him here.
Soccer is just never going to be a primary sport in North America, regardless of what tabloid-cover superstar they bring to an MLS team.
The LA Galaxy are paying this guy a million dollars a WEEK!? LA can’t even garner enough of a fan-base to support an American Football team, let alone a soccer team with a $250 million player.
Crazy stuff. I wonder how much that pricetag would have changed if he was hideous looking and had a 300lbs wife, since I honestly think part of their reason for getting him was to attract ‘fans’ regardless of their reason for being ‘fans’.
As stated, the team is only on the hook for a fraction of the overall contract.
To me, this harkens back to when the Kings lured Gretzky away the Edmonton(most famous player in the game, highly marketable, celebrity wife, etc…). The NHL in the states was completely off the map in the 80s(and headed there again, but that’s another story). The Gretzky deal changed that and made it a major sport here.
I’m sure that MLS is banking on the same thing happening with Beckham. It worked once, right?[/quote]
funny you should mention the gretzky thing as there’s an article on espn.com today saying the same thing:
Beckham follows Gretzky's lead in Tinseltown
regarding the “bring real football to us poor americans” thing, Beckham has been saying for a few years now that he wants to open a football academy in the states after his playing days are over. Frankly, I think it’s a brilliant idea. There are a shitload of fantastic athletes in this country, but you don’t see many top notch footballers come out of the states. A big part of it is that we don’t grow up watching the game, playing it all the time. And we don’t have a lot of top notch competition. If a guy like beckham can play a few years in the MLS then open an academy for aspiring footballers in the states, I think it might just increase the level of play and players coming out of the US. So it doesn’t seem like he wants to bring real football to us, but more likely, take advantage of an underdeveloped talent pool for the rest of the world. Not a bad business plan if you ask me.