Bend It Like Who?

I say we are pretty damn lucky to be able to attract some real talent, even after the players’ good years, to the U.S. even though most people don’t care or even openly despise football, er i mean soccer. I have been living in France now for a while, and everyone thinks I won’t know a thing about football or be able to play because I am American.

It makes me sad that my favorite sport (I have also played basketball for 10 years, rugby, and “American Football” is considered so low in the U.S. Hope it is changing. Maybe next time we can get the Klinsmann of the world to come coach our team.

Please disregard this post.

I used the wrong figure to do my calculations and hence everything i said here no longer applies.

[quote]C Dizzle wrote:
It was also the name of a niche movie about a teenage girl who wants to play football, against the wishes of her Hindu family.
quote]

Sikh family, actually…

[quote]Mufasa wrote:
Beckham states that he just wants to bring soccer to those poor, starving kids in America, hungry for “true” football…

Brings a tear to your eye, don’t it?

Mufasa[/quote]
thing is, he probably means it. Bless his cotton socks he just isn’t clever enough to see the irony of saying something like that and accepting a contract worth $250 million.

Wait til you hear him talk in an interview and you’ll see what I mean!!

A million a week? I cannot believe it.

Where are they getting that much money?

It sounds like a phony number.

[quote]Mufasa wrote:
Okay, my Friends…

I don’t know a DAMN thing about soccer (like most of us “American-Footballcentric” heathens). We play it as kids; then stop, get a beer and start tail-gaiting at “real” football games. SO:

  1. Been hearing it ALL DAY; What does “Bend it like Beckham” refer to? Something kinky he does with Posh?

Okay…seriously…what does it refer to?

  1. 250 MILLION DOLLARS to bring “real” Football to us heathens?

He better bend SOMETHING, baby…or I’d be pissed if I was writing the check!

LOL!

Discussion?

Mufasa[/quote]

I’ve tried to watch soccer, and in my opinion it sucks. I don’t care about the new great coming sport over the last 35 years.

Other can can like it, fine, but it’s not for me.

What was it that HeadHunter said about soccer again?

Beckham is a nice guy, but is not even close to the player he used to be for Manchester United (and even then, at his peak, he wasn’t even close to being the best player at United - Giggs, Keane, Scholes, Cantona were all much more important for the team). Beckam is a triumph of marketing over substance, but like some one said: its not his fault they want to pay him this much money.

By the way, I think the British pound is close to being worth 2 US dollars (damn inflated currency) not the other way round as some one suggested.

[quote]g’em wrote:
My money’s on Colleen “my-boyfriend-makes-chimpslook-
handsome-but-he-makes-six-figures-a-week” McLoughlin to take up the reins.
[/quote]

Yeah, who wants to admit they know that stuff? :wink:

My money is on Danielle Lloyd, former Miss Great Britain who was stripped of her crown when they found out she was dating one of the judges, soccer player Teddy Sheringham. She’s in the Celebrity Big Brother house right now getting tons of publicity (along with Jermaine Jackson, Leo Sayer, Dirk Benedict, and a lot of Limeys no one in America would recognize) She’ll either make a complete pratt of herself, or catapult herself into even more fame and fortune - after all, that’s the name of the game!

Micki

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
A million a week? I cannot believe it.

Where are they getting that much money?

It sounds like a phony number.[/quote]

You are right, it is a phony number.

Beck’s five year contract is reported to be in the single digit millions. The remainder of the $250 have nothing to do with MLS, they are his endorsements and other contracts. The media are incorrectly reporting this amount.

$250mm is an estimate of his total income over the next five years. Imagine if they listed Shaq’s TOTAL income when reporting his contract amount. I will search for a source.

Like someone said, a lot of the money will be endorsements. Beckham remains an advertiser’s dream.

even though he’s gotten more media attention from what he’s wearing to whatever his new hairstyle is, the guy is still fucking amazing, and he honestly did put in a lot of work to get to where he was. the ball shouldn’t move like that.

watch at about 1m4s

he’s not ronaldhino, but the playstyle is completely different.

Yeah that was me. I wrote it the wrong way round. I meant to say what you said but am stupid and wrote it out wrong.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/soccer/01/11/bc.soccer.beckham.contract/index.html

Beckham merchandise is worth a fortune, he’s the reason Real Madrid become the most profitable club in the world.

Still – who is writing the check? Who owns the LA Galaxy?

I’m with Mufasa and Bauer. I’ve been hearing about soccer is the next great sport since I was a kid. Remember Kyle Rote, Jr.? He was going to make soccer Hyooge in the U.S. Then it was Pele…Then it was the U.S. Women’s team and Mia Hamm…Now Beckham. Both my kids played it/play it. Great game. Do I ever watch an MLS game on ESPN 8 the Ocho? No.

Maybe if my hometown had an MLS team and if the tickest were reasonable I might get into it. Will an aging ex-Superstar with a hot wife and a ton of money in LA get me to watch it? No.

As per ESPN Radio this morning…

The contract with LA (MLS paying it thru the “David Beckham rule”) is for 50 million over the 5 year term.

The other 200 million is fully paid by the endorsing companies

Pepsi…

Rolex…

Nike…ect.

[quote]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’.[/quote]

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]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.

He opened a Football academy a while back. I agree David Beckham was not the greatest football player in Europe but the states isn’t full of football talent like Europe is. I think he most likely came to the states to try and be at the top again, other than that his appeal to everyone especially the women is what will help the MLS bring in viewers/fans. I heard on the news that Galaxy gear is already being sold more then before and Beckham jersey orders are already off the charts.

[quote]deputydawg wrote:
Still – who is writing the check? Who owns the LA Galaxy?

I’m with Mufasa and Bauer. I’ve been hearing about soccer is the next great sport since I was a kid. Remember Kyle Rote, Jr.? He was going to make soccer Hyooge in the U.S. Then it was Pele…Then it was the U.S. Women’s team and Mia Hamm…Now Beckham. Both my kids played it/play it. Great game. Do I ever watch an MLS game on ESPN 8 the Ocho? No.

Maybe if my hometown had an MLS team and if the tickest were reasonable I might get into it. Will an aging ex-Superstar with a hot wife and a ton of money in LA get me to watch it? No. [/quote]

I wish I got to this thread sooner!

Here’s the thing with Beckham. He is not at the peak of his skills, but he is still pretty good and will be very good in comparison to many players in MLS. There were a lot of top level clubs in Europe interested in picking him up during the January transfer window (Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle and Inter Milan, to name a few) so it’s not like he is used up. He’s only 31.

He is not meant to be the single savior of American soccer and no single player could do that anyway. However, it is a great move and could be worth every single penny to MLS and the sponsors paying that $250M.

How is that the case? I am not sure most American know how much most of the planet LOVES Beckham. He is the most popular (not necessarily the best) player in the world and insanely popular in Asia (where I guess they follow players more than teams). This signing pretty much assures that Beckham’s LA Galaxy jersey will be bought around the world, thus opening up merchandising possibilities heretofore never considered.

In the end, Beckham raises the profile of the league and that is a good thing for the MLS. His signing will likely pave the wave for other European players to come and play in the U.S. Again, this is all about laying a foundation.

The real challenge will be whether in 10 years the league is attracting and retaining world class talent… because American sports fans absolutely demand that in any sport they would considering watching en masse.