English footballer David Beckham is leaving Real Madrid to join the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS. At an estimated $250 million in salary and endorsements over five years, it’s being promoted as the largest deal in sporting history.
To give a sense of scale, the league’s highest paid player last year was Juan Francisco Palencia, a former Mexican national team forward who made $1.36 million playing for Chivas USA, another Los Angeles team that shares a stadium with the Galaxy.
MLS is betting big that the world’s most reconizable footballer can finally bring soccer into the big time in the United States. Grant Wahl of CNNSI thinks it will work, and that Beckham’s signing will open the doors for other superstars to sign with US teams. Brazil’s Ronaldo, for example, has long been rumored to be joining the New York Red Bulls.
But the real subtext, in my opinion, is the battle between Adidas and Nike for sports marketing dominance in the United States, a battle that Nike has been winning for some time. Of the 25 richest athletes in 2006 (according to Forbes), 12 have relationships with Nike, including names like Tiger Woods, Lebron James, Derek Jeter, and Lance Armstrong. Beckham, a long-time Adidas client, is another piece in Adidas’ arsenal. In 2004, Adidas placed a big long-term bet on MLS’s success with a 10-year partnership deal worth $150 million. This is a league that has lost more than $350 million in the past decade.
Personally, I wish the MLS was thinking a little smaller. Why not sign some stars from Latin America to appeal to Latinos, still the most loyal audience for soccer in this country?
Misha Cornes
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Hey Misha – if you’re a football fan and remember the NASL, there was an awesome documentary on ESPN2 about the New York Cosmos. Might be out on DVD by now.
Looks to me like Becks is following in the footsteps of Pele and Beckenbauer – 30 years later.
The big question is – will Posh Spice attempt a comeback as well?
Soccer needs mega media exposure in the US because its not pop culture here. Posh and Becks will bring it on. Think Newlyweds or maybe Young, Rich and Out of Control. Will we see Posh and Paris battling it out at the Hyde?
One clown does not make a circus! Seriously, I admire David Beckham and what he did for England (even grudgingly for Man U) but the whole game is fundamentally flawed in this country. It is insane that this country’s greatest export after democracy is the free-market economy. Soccer is managed like a communist-era state-owned industry.
The MLS is mediocre. You couldn’t pay me to watch a game. Why? Because the best US talent goes to Europe to develop their game and few seem to be in a hurry to come back. The game is not competitive enough. It’s a weak gene pool.
LA Galaxy was able to hire Becks under a cockamamy rule that allows each team to pay 1 player (yes 1 player) whatever they want and pay the rest salaries that don’t even match to the second divisions of most other countries. Moreover they are technically all employees of the MLS not their individual teams. Great so each team can have 1 Becks, Ronaldo or whoever can’t get a starting spot for Real Madrid but they will have 10 other players who aren’t anywhere near as good.
Imagine what movies would be like if the movie business was run like that?
The best thing the MLS could do is open the market up like the European leagues. Even if you have a situation where 2-3 teams dominate (this actually works OK in Italy, Spain, England, Scotland, Netherlands). Then LA Galaxy, the NY Red Bulls, DC United or whoever could buy a pool of talent that would make the game entertaining.
More color from AdAge on the story today, suggesting that Adidas will specifically invest in the Galaxy on top of its deal with the MLS itself.
Another interesting suggestion- that Beckham’s value as a pitchman for global brands like Gilette will actually diminish, because the international market will look down on him for moving from Europe to the weaker US league.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=114252
Useful site. Thanks:-)