Why Beckham Will Boost American Soccer
I don’t think I can remember the last time a soccer story was on the front page of most major American online news sources. So it was quite a surprise to see a story related to MLS’s LA Galaxy splashed across the home pages of New York Times, CNN, ABC News and other high-profile news sites. What was not a surprise was that the player generating this press coverage is the world player with perhaps the highest profile in the world: David Beckham.
In addition to Beckham’s name recognition even among non-soccer fans in this country, what surely brought much of the press coverage was the size of the salary the new Galaxy recruit signed. 250 million dollars is quite a chunk of change, to be sure. But the contract’s details are slightly more complicated than has been let on. This post on MLS Underground quotes from a Wall Street Journal article which says that Beckham’s actual salary is closer to $10 million per year, with the Spice Boy also pocketing half of the Galaxy’s jersey sales profits as well as a cut of ticket sales. Beckham will also be getting close to $20 million in endorsements. Altogether, this may add up to $50 million a year over 5 years, pushing the total to $250 million. (Ives Galarcep is similarly skeptical about the $250 million figure.)
But the real question is not whether Beckham will become simply rich or uber-rich; it’s whether his arrival will benefit MLS specifically and American soccer in general. I have spoken with many friends and fellow soccer fans in the past couple of days and they are not convinced he will be a good thing for American soccer.
But I disagree: I think Beckham’s arrival will push MLS and American soccer to new heights and take them closer to world-class status. Here’s why.
Sports are, lest we forget, a business. A large part of business is brand awareness and this is built by media exposure. In its 10 years of existence MLS has struggled to establish itself in the minds of the American public. Until this past season, it had to pay to have its games broadcast, as opposed to leagues like the NFL and NBA that sell their rights for multi-million dollar figures. MLS has been known to soccer people, but has struggled to push outside of this small circle of fans.
I am sure that surveys about familiarity with MLS taken January 10 (the day before Becks was signed) would be far lower than those taken today. MLS has scored an incredible coup in getting its name into major media (I am convinced that quoting the $250 million figure was intended to cause sensation in the press, despite it being simply a projection of Beckham’s future earnings).
But many are concerned that MLS has overpaid for a player who is past 30 and has never been as good as his hype. This concern makes sense if one considers Beckham’s arrival in purely sporting terms. Clearly, though, he was signed as much for his name recognition and potential to earn MLS money as for his soccer skills. LA Galaxy jerseys may not be seen much outside of LA, but Don Garber and co. are hoping they will soon be seen around the world. They have reason to think this may be the case.
In the summer of 2003, a certain David Beckham signed for Real Madrid in a 17.8 million pound (roughly 35 million dollars) deal. This was considered exorbitant even then, when Beckham was in his prime as a player. But Real Madrid bought the player as a soccer player and as a way to boost their brand. Los Merengues used Beckham’s popularity to boost their replica jersey sales and overtook Manchester United (not coincedentally, Beckham’s former team) as the richest club in the world. Beckham clearly can have an effect on the bottom line, and the Galaxy will hope to replicate Madrid’s success in this area.
But what about Beckham’s role on the field? He is a marketing juggernaut but he wouldn’t have risen to prominence if he weren’t a half-decent player as well. Some worry that Beckham is coming to MLS simply to earn money and won’t put any effort into his playing. I doubt it. I’ve never been a huge Beckham fan, but no one has ever questioned his work ethic. Unlike other aging Europeans who have come to MLS, I can’t see Beckham “pulling a Matthaus” and half-assing it on the field in order to experience life in the US. I take Beckham at his word when he says he wants to help build American soccer. A large part of doing this will be how he performs on the field, and I am sure he will give his all.
Another concern voiced in the wake of Beckham’s signing is that he will be too good for MLS. While there is concern that he may dominate the league (Ives Galarcep points out that he will go up against MLS left backs, who are, for the most part, weak), soccer is very much a team sport and Beckham is not the type of player to completely take over a game (a point Stefan Fatsis made recently on NPR).
Comparisons between Pele coming to the NASL in the 70s and Beckham coming to MLS have popped up, with some worrying that American soccer is again relying on aging stars to achieve success. I think theses comparisons are incorrect. One of the reasons the NASL went bust is that it never developed American players. Developing young Americans has been one of MLS’s largest successes (it should be noted that Clint Dempsey signed with England’s Fulham one day before the Beckham announcement in a deal worth a record 4 million dollars). Beckham will step into a league in which he will undoubtedly be a star, but he will have to work hard to achieve success. MLS may not be Spain’s La Liga or England’s Premier League, but it is a good, solid league.
In the end, I think Beckham’s arrival will boost MLS because it will boost the awareness of soccer in this country. With more people aware of the game, I think MLS can make the jump from a minor sport to one of the “big four” (can we remove hockey from that group yet?). Concerns about Beckham’s desire to work hard on the field are unfounded as he has shown throughout his career. And having a star such as Beckham on the field will raise the level of MLS players and hopefully encourage the future stars of American soccer to take up the game.
As for Posh Spice … not everyone is as excited about her arrival as the paparazzi to whom she’ll undoubtedly give new work.
